Biden under growing criticism as photos show detained migrant children in US squalid camps

US President Joe Biden is facing more criticism over border refugee crisis as new photos show squalid conditions of migrants at the US-Mexico border detention centers.

Photos emerged showing detained migrant children crowded into holding areas separated by plastic sheeting at a temporary processing center near the border in Texas.

US Representative Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) captured the images during a recent trip to inspect the squalid facility.

The Biden administration is under fire over the growing humanitarian crisis at the border, where an influx of refugee fleeing violence and economic hardship in Central and South America.

The White House is, in particual, wrestling with reports about conditions in overcrowded detention centers for unaccompanied immigrant children.

More than 10-thousand kids, including many of those forcibly separated from their parents, are now in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services as US officials are struggling to process them.

5,200 others are also stranded in Border Patrol facilities not designed for long-term custody, US media reports say.

President Biden vowed to unwind many of the immigration policies of former president Donald Trump when he assumed office on Jan. 20, saying he would erase what he has called "a moral and national shame" inherited from Trump.

Biden ordered the reunification of migrant children with their families, halted construction of the border wall and called for reviews of legal immigration programs terminated by Trump.

The rolling back of Trump’s immigration policies stoked illegal immigration, with large numbers of asylum seeking unaccompanied children massing on the US border from Mexico.

The Biden administration has been sharply criticized by both fellow Democrats and Republicans for the handling of the refugee crisis at the southern border.

Republicans ripped the president for undoing Trump’s policies, saying his administration has encouraged illegal immigration into the US.

Biden stands accused of failing to respond effectively -- and of lacking transparency with the media, with his fellow Democrats criticizing his administration for using notorious Trump-era detainment facilities in Texas to keep migrant children.

Democrats had used the issue of detainment facilities to accuse Trump of putting “kids in cages.”

‘Hiding the truth’

Republicans have accused the new president of creating the border chaos with a "naive immigration stance."

"Despite your administration's refusal to admit this is a crisis, the American people are beginning to understand the gravity of the situation," said Republican Senator Ted Cruz, announcing he would visit the border this week with 14 of his colleagues.

Cruz accused the White House of "hiding the truth" by preventing journalists from visiting border facilities, particularly those holding children.

Republican John Cornyn and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, who represent border states Texas and Arizona, respectively -- also issued a joint letter urging Biden to step up his response.

Former president Trump also said, "It's insane and it's nothing compared to what it's going to be over the coming months."

Biden has largely avoided the border refugee crisis, but faced with reporters' questions at his press conference later this week as he knows he will have to address the crisis head on, according to media.

His last 10 tweets discuss masks, vaccinations, St Patrick's Day, the stimulus package, global warming and violence against Asian Americans... but not the situation on the border.

An American reporter said Trump's "zero tolerance" toward immigrants had turned into Biden-era "zero access" for journalists.

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