S.

Department of Homeland Security over the weekend ordered an emergency agency that usually responds to floods, storms and other major disasters to help care for a growing number of migrant Children arriving at the US Mexico border.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, has been instructed to help receive shelter and transport Children over the next 90 days.

The move signals the scope of a growing humanitarian and political crisis for President Joe Biden, who has reversed some of the restrictive border policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump.

A spike in Children arriving without parents or legal guardians has exceeded shelter capacity, which was previously cut by 40% to limit the spread of Covid 19.

Those shelter restrictions were lifted on March 5th, but only about 200 beds have come back, online and administration officials said Friday.

Migrant Children apprehended at the border are supposed to be transferred out of border control custody within 72 hours, but when shelter space is limited, they can get stuck in border detention centers for longer periods, as is happening now.

A U.

S official told Reuters that more than 3600 migrant Children were being held in U.

S border facilities as of the end of last week, more than four times the number in late February.

And as of Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services refugee office had approximately 8800 unaccompanied Children in custody.