Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. It's Monday, March 29th. I'm Nyla Boudou. Here's what you need to know today.

Opening statements in Minneapolis begin in the trial over the killing of George Floyd. Plus, voting rights, gun control, and infrastructure, the week ahead in Washington.

But first, the record number of migrant children expected at the border is today's one big thing.

It's looking like this month, we'll see the highest numbers of migrant children crossing the border in US history.

And Axios' Steph Kite is reporting the Biden administration is preparing for even more children in the coming months.

Hi, Steph. How does this compare to previous years?

Well, the last time we saw a record month for unaccompanied minors crossing the border was in 2019.

We saw more than 11,000 children cross the border without their parents or their legal guardians.

But we're expected to break that record this month as we finish out March. And we're expected to see those record breaking numbers every single month through at least September, according to government documents that I obtained.

So what's the immediate need the Biden administration is facing now?

The most immediate need is just space to hold these kids. When it comes down to company minors, there's a very specific process that the government has to follow.

And the Department of Health and Human Services has a network of shelters that are designed to care for children.

But they continue to run out of space to hold these children, which is forcing thousands of them to wait in these border facilities that are not intended to hold children at all and certainly not for long periods of time.

And Steph, you said projections are that this will be like this for months. What are we expecting for the coming months for the summer?

I mean, we're certainly expecting the administration to be working as hard as they can to open up more overflow facilities. We're already expecting them to open up space for an additional 5,000 kids using sites on military bases.

I think we'll see more and more of that as they search for places where they can set up shelters set up tents in order to just have a safer place for kids.

The other thing we're expecting to see from the administration is for them to more quickly release children at least some children to their parents who are already in the U.S.

Lots of times migrants come to the border and even have a number for a relative who's already in the U.S.

So in those situations, the administration has talked about wanting to more quickly release kids to create more space for additional kids coming in.

What are you watching for next?

I am really just watching these numbers. This is unheard of numbers of children coming across the border.

And I think everyone is very concerned for the safety of these kids, especially if the administration isn't able to set up enough shelters or if they end up releasing kids too quickly and not having proper vetting procedures.

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