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From the Office of Refugee Resettlement:
Once the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) receives a child from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), we have the responsibility to continuously seek placement options in the childs best interest. This typically involves releasing children to sponsors. Sponsors are adults who can suitably provide for the childs physical and mental well-being and have not engaged in any activity that would indicate a potential risk to the child.
We try to place the child with a parent, and if that is not possible, with a relative, and if that is not possible, with a family friend.
Here (below) are the top ten states where the children have been sent to join sponsors. These are not the children being housed in bulk in various places around the US. Those were identified here.
Are your school districts ready?
Darlene Nicgorskis legacythe Sanctuary Movement is alive and well (legal and paid for by you!).
I suspect these numbers reflect the population of Central Americans in certain states. For example, Maryland has a huge number of Salvadorans (and other Central Americans) who got here through the Sanctuary Movement in the 1980′s. Additionally, Maryland has the well-established illegal alien advocacy and support groupCasa de Marylandwhich grew out of the Sanctuary Movement*** and is now getting government grants to help support the illegals (including the children) arriving in the state.
Texas: 4,280
New York: 3,347
Florida: 3,181
California: 3,150
Virginia: 2,234
Maryland: 2,205
New Jersey: 1,504
North Carolina: 1,191
Georgia: 1,154
Louisiana: 1,071
*** I encourage you to read one of several posts (and follow links) at RRW about the roots of the Central American invasion of the US that the Left calls the Sanctuary Movement. Chicago Catholics (Saul Alinsky got his start among them) were at the heart of the movement and today Obama is finishing their work work that began when he was a pothead college student, not interested in much other than getting high.
Kenneth Wolfe, deputy director of public affairs for the department’s Administration for Children and Families, told CNSNews.com in an email, “Under the law, we have a legal responsibility to place children in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interest of the child. We try to place the child with a parent if possible, and if that is not possible, with a relative.” “We do not restrict placements based on the immigration status of the parent or other sponsor,” Wolfe added. Since the start of the 2014 fiscal year beginning last October 1, more than 66,000 illegal alien children have crossed the Southwest U.S. border without a parent or legal guardian, according to the most recent report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The vast majority stem from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico.
Once apprehended by border control, children from Mexico are sent back across the border per an agreement between the federal government and the government of Mexico and outlined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. The rest are turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services for processing. According to Wolfe, the vast majority transferred to HHS have been referred for placement in the agency’s Unaccompanied Alien Child (UAC) program. But about 95 percent of all illegal alien children who have been referred to the program since October have since been discharged from the program – meaning they are no longer considered to be an "unaccompanied alien child" by the federal government.
A Border Patrol agent stands on a ranch fence line with children taken into custody in South Texas brush country north of Laredo, Texas
Wolfe explained, “As of yesterday [Sept. 8], 57,760 minors have been referred to us by DHS [the Department of Homeland Security] for our Unaccompanied Alien Children program so far in FY 2014.” “Of these, 55,153 children have been discharged from the UAC program. 96 percent of the children discharged have been placed with sponsors in the U.S.,” he added. A “sponsor” is preferably a parent, legal guardian, or immediate family member, but could be a distant relative or family friend, if no close relative is found, Wolfe said. Once placed with a sponsor, the child is then given a "notice to appear" in immigration court, where most are expected to plead for asylum in the United States. The process is lengthy, with one judge at the Immigration Court in Arlington, Va., setting the date for asylum hearings in June of 2018.
Despite CNSNews.com’s repeated requests by email and phone, Wolfe would not say how many of the 55,153 discharged children were transferred into the care of a parent or guardian already in the United States – one of several factors that could cause a child to be discharged from being an “unaccompanied alien child” under U.S. law. According to the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the legal definition of an “unaccompanied alien child” hinges on whether or not the child already has a parent or legal guardian in the United States, not whether they simply crossed the border without one.
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When U.S. Border Patrol Agents located them, using cell phone coordinates, they discovered that the sisters are among the thousands of unaccompanied minors from Guatemala fleeing to the United States. In this case, smugglers left the children on the Tohono O’odham Indian reservation, where the U.S.-Mexico border is lightly fenced and loosely guarded. Agents said both children were in good health, and they were taken to the Tucson Coordination Center "for further processing." The Tucson Sector Border Patrol said it is working with the Guatemalan Consulate in an attempt to locate any relatives the children may have in the United States.
Typically, unaccompanied minors who have relatives here are placed with them, pending their day in immigration court. Rescues of this type are not unusual: "The hard work of Border Patrol agents has accounted for over 500 rescues since beginning of the fiscal year," Customs and Border Patrol said in a news release. "The Tucson Sector Border Patrol urges anyone in distress to call 911, as this may be the best chance a person has to save their own life." CBP also warned that the stranding of the two little girls "highlights the dangers faced by migrants at the hands of smugglers" as well as the dangers posed by the desert heat.
So far in Fiscal Year 2015 (Oct. 1, 2014-July 31, 2015), 30,862 unaccompannied alien children (those up to 17 years old) have been apprehended at the Southwest border. That nine-month total is 51 percent below the 62,977 unaccompanied minors who came here for all 12 months of Fiscal 2014. Unaccompanied minors from Guatemala lead the pack, with 10,756 of them arriving in the U.S. so far in FY 2015; 9,146 were from Mexico, 6,669 from El Salvador, and 3,838 from Honduras. In FY 2014, more children came here from Honduras than any of those other three countries.
Guatemalan Sisters--Ages 4 and 7--Call 911 When Abandoned at Border
A total of 10,588 unaccompanied children crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in October and November, more than double the 5,129 who crossed during the same two months last year, according to the U.S. Border Patrol. The number of family members crossing together has nearly tripled, to 12,505. Increasing gang violence is pushing people out of Central America, said Maureen Meyer, a senior associate for Mexico and migrant rights at the Washington Office on Latin America. "We need to look at this as much more a refugee situation," she said. Migrating through Mexico and across the U.S. border is very dangerous, but "the level of desperation" in their home countries is making families decide it's worth the risk, she said.
Central American women hold photographs of their disappeared family members as they march in Mexico City, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015. The caravan of women is traveling through Mexico to search for their missing relatives who left for a better life in the U.S. but disappeared.
More migrants are crossing the border even as new checkpoints between Central America and the United States are turning thousands of people back, said Emilio Gonzalez Gonzalez, a political scientist and independent researcher in Mexico City. "We are not talking traditional migration trends. This is a new refugee influx and it should be managed that way," he said. "They could be candidates for international protection." Incoming family groups are usually sent first to detention centers, and adult migrants are often jailed when they are apprehended, but children traveling alone need special treatment under federal law, so officials plan to open at least three shelters — two in Texas and one in California — to accommodate them.
A woman lays pictures of missing Central American migrants during a march by mothers who are searching for their children, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015. The caravan of women, mostly from Central America, are traveling through Mexico to search for their relatives who left for a better life in the U.S. but disappeared.
The additional beds will enable the U.S. Health and Human Services Department to shelter up to 9,800 unaccompanied minors at a time. "What we don't want to have happen is have a backup of people" at the border, agency spokesman Mark Weber said. "We are making sure we have the capacity in place to take care of the children." By law, the Border Patrol has 72 hours to turn unaccompanied minors from Central America over to Health and Human Services, which is then responsible for their care until they are placed with a sponsor or have an immigration hearing.
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Lt. Col. Thomas Crosson, a DoD spokesman, said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asked for a total of 5,000 beds at military facilities to meet an increase in demand. HHS would be responsible for overseeing and funding the operation. "They'll have the facility from us, but they're going to staff it," Crosson said. "DOD's role, if they select Grand Forks, would be just to provide them with the facility."
U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said Grand Forks is among six defense facilities being considered for temporary housing, and it wouldn't be the only base handling the additional beds. HHS officials will visit Grand Forks Air Force Base "in the coming days" to determine if it would be suitable for temporary shelter, HHS spokeswoman Andrea Helling said. "Base officials will join HHS staff as they tour the vacant facilities available for HHS use," she wrote in an email. "The Department of Defense and HHS will continue to keep local and congressional officials informed throughout this assessment and selection process."
History
The move would have precedent. The military was housing 2,700 minors in unused facilities at three bases as of July 2014 during a surge of children coming across the border, according to ABC News. Minors coming from the "Northern Triangle" countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are often fleeing from gang or cartel violence, according to the American Immigration Council. In the year that ended in September 2014, about 57,000 unaccompanied children were referred to HHS' care, compared to the 34,000 in the following year. In just October and November alone, 10,000 children crossed the border, Helling said.
"This time around, we're paying very close attention to the numbers of kids coming across the border and expanding capacity to make sure we have enough beds to take the children so they don't end up holed up in the Border Patrol stations," she said in a phone interview. Only children that are medically cleared would be transferred to a military base, Helling said. On average, a child is in HHS care for 32 days while officials find a U.S. sponsor, often a family member. Once children leave HHS care, they go through immigration proceedings, Helling added.
Concerns
