TUESDAY March 23, 2021: EXODUS by Jerry Lara of the San Antonio Express-News who recently won the NPPA's coveted Morris Berman Citation, and Jason Buch who covers immigration and border affairs: Migrant families and unaccompanied children are overwhelming U.S. Customs and Border Protection holding areas and federal youth shelters even as the facilities are being expanded. The surge is happening as families flee gang violence, unstable governments, poverty and hurricane damage at a time many believe the Biden administration will be more welcoming than the former Trump White House. Border Patrol apprehended nearly 100,000 refugees at the U.S.-Mexico border in February, the 10th consecutive month of increased apprehensions and a return to levels last seen in mid-2019, according to the Pew Research Center. The border is not open - most single adults and families who cross illegally are expelled to Mexico. Migrants shut out by former President Donald Trump's ''zero tolerance'' immigration policy are making perilous journeys out of hope, desperately fleeing conditions in Central America unimaginable to most Americans. The number of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border this year is on pace to be the highest in 20 years, and the influx is straining U.S. immigration resources and intensifying pressure on the Biden administration to stem an emerging crisis. Welcome to: EXODUS.
© zReportage.com Story of the Week #779: TUESDAY March 23, 2021: EXODUS by Jerry Lara of the San Antonio Express-News who recently won the NPPA's coveted Morris Berman Citation, and Jason Buch who covers immigration and border affairs: Migrant families and unaccompanied children are overwhelming U.S. Customs and Border Protection holding areas and federal youth shelters even as the facilities are being expanded. The surge is happening as families flee gang violence, unstable governments, poverty and hurricane damage at a time many believe the Biden administration will be more welcoming than the former Trump White House. Border Patrol apprehended nearly 100,000 refugees at the U.S.-Mexico border in February, the 10th consecutive month of increased apprehensions and a return to levels last seen in mid-2019, according to the Pew Research Center. The border is not open - most single adults and families who cross illegally are expelled to Mexico. Migrants shut out by former President Donald Trump's ''zero tolerance'' immigration policy are making perilous journeys out of hope, desperately fleeing conditions in Central America unimaginable to most Americans. The number of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border this year is on pace to be the highest in 20 years, and the influx is straining U.S. immigration resources and intensifying pressure on the Biden administration to stem an emerging crisis. Welcome to: EXODUS.

A migrant family with several young children, walk a road in an area known as 'Devil's Corner' by Anzalduas International Bridge in Mission. During the evening they had crossed the river, entered the U.S. illegally and turned themselves into authorities. In just one night 200 migrants were apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol in the area.
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

A migrant woman shows signs of trauma including a black eye after crossing the Rio Grande into the U.S. As the sun set, smugglers known as coyotes, started crossing mostly Central American families across the Rio Grande. The migrants surrendered to U.S. Border Patrol agents.
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

A Hidalgo County Precinct 3 Constable deputy guides migrant families, many with young children to a U.S. Border Patrol processing area in Mission. The migrants surrendered to U.S. Border Patrol agents and Hidalgo County Precinct 3 deputies.
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

A migrant family stand in the dark while waiting to be guided to the U.S. Border Patrol processing area by Hidalgo County Precinct 3 deputies. During the evening over 200 migrants crossed the river, entered the U.S. illegally and turned themselves in to authorities.
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Hidalgo County Precinct 3 deputies help out U.S. Border Patrol agents to guide mostly Central American families to a processing area after they cross the Rio Grande into the U.S. in Hidalgo County.
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

An 11-year-old Nicaraguan boy traveling alone shows a Hidalgo County Precinct 3 deputy a paper with a phone number after crossing the Rio Grande in an area known as the Rincon Del Diablo, or 'Devil's Corner.' The deputies were helping the U.S. Border Patrol in the area near Anzalduas Park where a large number of families have crossed into the U.S. illegally.
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

A Hidalgo County Precinct 3 Constable deputy guides migrant families with the few personal belonging's they could carry, to a U.S. Border Patrol processing area in Mission.
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Tired and hungry, migrant families, many with young children are guided to a U.S. Border Patrol processing area by Hidalgo County Precinct 3 deputies in an area known as 'Devil's Corner' in Mission, Texas.
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Migrant families are directed by a Hidalgo County Precinct 3 Deputy to a U.S. Border Patrol processing site by Anzalduas International Bridge. Over two hundred migrants, mostly Central Americans, crossed the Rio Grande at the so-called 'Devil's Corner.'
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

KARLA GABRIELA CALDERON, 14, looks at a paper with the map of the U.S. at a staging area for migrants in the Brownsville bus station. With her is her brother, ZAHIR, 6. They were traveling with the father from Honduras to North Carolina. Migrants, releases from U.S. Border Patrol custody after crossing the Rio Grande into the U.S., are dropped off at the station where charities are able to provide food, water and a place to rest before boarding a bus for their final destination. Volunteers also test the migrants for COVID-19.
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

A young girl clings to her mother before her finger is pricked to test the blood for COVID-19 antibodies at the Brownsville, Texas bus station. Migrants, released from U.S. Border Patrol custody after crossing the Rio Grande into the U.S., are dropped off at the station where charities are able to provide food, water and a place to rest before boarding a bus for their final destination.
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Asylum seekers are greeted by a charity volunteer (center), at the Brownsville, Texas bus station. The group of 27 were the first allowed to enter the U.S. from a migrant camp in Matamoros, Mexico. The camp sprang up when the Trump administration implemented the Migrant Protection Program, which returned migrants back to Mexico to fight their asylum case before U.S. Immigration judges virtually. The Biden administration started allowing the asylum seekers entry into the U.S.
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

ZAIDA LOPEZ, 4, reaches out for a plate of pizza at the Brownsville, Texas bus station. Migrants, released from U.S. Border Patrol custody after crossing the Rio Grande into the U.S., are dropped off at the station where charities are able to provide food, water and a place to rest before boarding a bus for their final destination.
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Rev. ROY SNIPES blesses a migrant mother and child at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Hall in Mission. Most of the migrants were released earlier from U.S. Border Patrol custody after they crossed the Rio Grande into the U.S. and surrendered to authorities. The church was taking migrants, an overflow due to COVID-19 restrictions, from the Catholic Charities Respite Center in McAllen.
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Migrants lit up by a patrol vehicles headlights, surrender to U.S. Border Patrol agents. As the sun sets smugglers known as coyotes, started crossing mostly Central American families across the Rio Grande.
© Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire