Lawmakers press Biden administration to grant media access to border facilities.

A growing chorus of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have called on the Biden administration to allow reporters and journalists into facilities housing unaccompanied migrant children who have sought asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The appeal for greater transparency with the American public and those who cover it comes as the U.S. faces a growing humanitarian crisis at its southwest border, driven by Central America's economic devastation, climate change, gang violence and political persecution, as well as a new presidential administration.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas predicts the U.S. is on pace to encounter more migrants at its southwest border than in 20 years. Amid the ongoing surge in crossings, President Biden said Sunday that "at some point" he will be going to the border.

Senator Rob Portman, ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and one of four senators who accompanied Mayorkas to the border on Friday, told CBS News' "Face the Nation" that he will "absolutely" push to open Custom and Border Protection (CBP) facilities to journalists amid calls for transparency.

"This should be transparent," Portman said. "It's amazing to me how little my constituents know about what's going on down along the border. It is a situation spiraling out of control."

Senator Chris Murphy, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security, also participated in the trip to the U.S.-Mexico border. The Democratic lawmaker told NPR on Saturday that opening up access to media coverage is "something that we should all press the administration to do better on." 

"We want to make sure that the press has access to hold the administration accountable," he said. "That's the reason I was there, to hold them accountable. And they've seen a surge that began last year, that began under the Trump administration, but it's real. It's pressing their resources."

As of Saturday morning, more than 5,000 unaccompanied minors remained in a CBP tent holding facility in south Texas and other stations along the border with Mexico. According to the government records, unaccompanied children are spending an average of 136 hours in CBP custody, far beyond the 72-hour legal limit.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was also housing nearly 10,500 unaccompanied children in emergency housing facilities and shelters licensed by states to care for minors, according to department spokesperson Mark Weber.

Another lawmaker on the trip, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security, told The Washington Post on Saturday that more than 200 border agents have been diverted to a Customs and Border Protection processing center in El Paso to care for children.