SC can’t house unaccompanied immigrant children, Gov. McMaster orders. Here’s why

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order Monday to block unaccompanied immigrant children from being placed in South Carolina foster care facilities and group care homes.

The move was in response to inquiries from President Joe Biden’s administration, according to the executive order. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services allegedly asked S.C.’s Department of Social Services if they had resources to place migrant children.

According to McMaster’s executive order, DSS found taking on a number of migrant children would potentially stretch the department’s resources and the state’s capacity for foster care placements.

With those concerns in mind, McMaster ordered DSS to “take any and all necessary and appropriate action” to prevent migrant children from being placed within the state’s group care and foster care facilities.

State licensed facilities that do not follow the order could face corrective action or revocation of their license, according to the executive order.

McMaster’s order comes as Republicans continue to criticize the Biden administration’s response to undocumented immigration along the southern border. Specifically, Republicans have criticized the administrations lack of progress when it comes to removing migrant children from holding facilities, a promise made by Biden on the campaign trail.

The governor took a trip to Texas over the weekend to visit South Carolina National Guard soldiers working along the border.

The Biden administration opened 11 new facilities to house migrant children and get them out of Border Patrol facilities within the last month. Those facilities cost millions of dollars a week to operate.

As of March, Customs and Boarder Patrol reported 18,890 unaccompanied children in their custody.

This story will be updated.