Vox Sentences - Borderline crisis

President Biden faces increasing pressure regarding the number of migrant children at the border; the murder of a British woman has galvanized a movement against gender violence.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Gabby Birenbaum.

TOP NEWS

A dire situation at the border

Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images

Thousands of unaccompanied migrant minors are arriving at the US-Mexico border, and President Joe Biden has called in the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help manage the increasingly untenable situation as his administration attempts to unravel former President Trump’s migrant processing system. [Washington Post / Nick Miroff]
Customs and Border Protection has held 3,000 kids longer than the legal limit of 72 hours in temporary holding facilities that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has admitted are “no place for a child” as the administration struggles to house the influx of kids arriving at the border. [CBS News / Camilo Montoya-Galvez]
New reports show some children have been held as long as eight days without access to phones or showers. Biden is calling on FEMA to help house and transport kids away from Border Patrol custody. [BuzzFeed News / Adolfo Flores]
About 435 unaccompanied children are arriving at the border each day. Biden has pledged to treat them more humanely than Trump, who had all migrants wait in Mexico and made no exceptions for children, housing them in squalid detention centers and separating families. But Biden has opened additional facilities, which were not intended for kids, due to the huge influx of migrants. [USA Today / Matthew Brown]
Unlike Trump, the Biden administration is accepting unaccompanied minors. But Biden inherited an immigration system that struggles to manage the flow of migrants from Central America annually and a complex web of legal proceedings from the Trump administration that Biden’s personnel are still attempting to untangle. [Vox / Nicole Narea]
The Biden administration has told migrants not to come, but the numbers of expected arrivals are projected to be high due to the pandemic and natural disasters in Central America. Shelters in Mexico and the US are reaching capacity. [NYT / Maria Abi-Habib]
A group of progressive House Democrats, led by Rep. Ilhan Omar, is asking the Biden administration to end its contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the reports of inhumane conditions in detention facilities. [Newsweek / Danya Hajjaji]
Meanwhile, a group of House Republicans led by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy toured the border today and blamed the Biden administration for the crisis. [NPR / Barbara Sprunt]
House Democrats will take up two immigration bills this week as part of a piecemeal approach to enacting President Biden’s agenda — a path to citizenship for DREAMers and for farmworkers. [WSJ / Michelle Hackman]

The killing of a British woman sparks a social movement

Earlier this month, 33-year-old Sarah Everard left a friend’s house to walk home in London and took several safety precautions, including wearing bright clothes, sticking to main roads, and talking on the phone. But she was abducted, kidnapped, and murdered. [WSJ / James Hookway]
Everard’s killing has been met with outrage and renewed discussion of misogyny and women’s safety — a police officer has been charged with her kidnapping and murder. In the UK, sex and gender are not on the list of hate crime motivators. [BBC News / Jennifer Scott]
Protests have rippled across the UK as women discuss the fears they have when walking home alone at night. Last year saw a global increase in domestic violence and reports of rape as well. [Guardian / Alexandra Topping]
In what's being called the “Reclaim these Streets” movement, women in London held vigils for Everard and protested the police for arresting them rather than investigating the abusers and misogynists within their ranks. Police have threatened large fines for further gatherings due to coronavirus restrictions. [NYT / Amanda Taub]
Police violence against protesters, captured on camera, was widely criticized across the UK. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “deeply concerned” by the footage he saw. [Quartz / Katherine Bell]

MISCELLANEOUS

In a breakthrough year, the Oscars nominated its most diverse slate of actors ever — nine actors of color — and nominated more than one woman for Best Director for the first time.

[Variety / Adam B. Vary]

After last night’s Grammy Awards, Beyoncé is now the singer to win the most Grammys in Grammys history, with 28. [CNN / Lisa Respers France]
Eleven countries — including France, Germany, and Italy, most recently — have temporarily suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to reports of blood clots (though European regulators said there was no evidence the shot was causing the clots). [AP / Frank Jordans]
Gonzaga, Michigan, Illinois, and Baylor earned No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. [Sports Illustrated / Joseph Salvador]

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VERBATIM

“As I have said many times, a Border Patrol facility is no place for a child.”

[Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the detention of unaccompanied minors at Border Patrol facilities]

LISTEN TO THIS

The filibuster, a Senate rule that was put in place by accident in the 19th century, is standing in the way of much of President Joe Biden’s agenda. A growing chorus of Democrats is calling for the Senate to scrap the filibuster, arguing that it’s the only way the party can act on issues such as voting rights, gun control, and climate change. Not everyone is in agreement — including, importantly, Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. Vox’s Andrew Prokop explains what’s going on. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

Vox Sentences - Borderline crisis

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