Due to the health emergency, the Biden administration has opted not to allow entry to new asylum seekers arriving in the U.S.

However, a new wave of undocumented minors are being held in Border Patrol custody as authorities attempt to find their family members.

"Still-intact families who are desperate for the safety of their children are going to send their children across alone," recounted inmigration attorney Amy Maldonado. It is assumed that this decision makes sense for those who already have family members in the U.S. who can take care of them.

This week The Associated Press interviewed the mother of a 4-year-old girl from Guatemala who crossed the border on March 5 with her aunt and cousin. Border authorities removed the aunt and her son, but determined that the girl was without an accompanying adult and took her to a tent facility in Donna, Texas.

The minor's parents live in Maryland, the mother told AP, and that she learned of her daughter's whereabouts Sunday through news from Customs and Border Protection and was able to speak with her only Monday.

"She was crying like something was happening to her, like she was scared,'' the mother recounted. 

 The girl's parents requested that she be released directly to them, but on Monday the child was sent from South Texas to temporary custody in Michigan. She was finally reunited with her mother after spending four days with a foster family.

The Biden administration claims to be working to overhaul the system with an eye toward efficiency, and with these measures they hope to see a reduction in the number of undocumented minors crossing the border. In addition, Biden recently announced an agreement with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in which they pledge to work together to cushion the border crisis.