Border Crisis: What to do with Unaccompanied Children
The Department of Homeland Security is facing a major border crisis with the waves of unaccompanied children crossing the border in recent months. An unprecedented number of undocumented children have entered the country since last year and it appears as though this trend won’t be slowing down any time soon. Border Patrol officials predict that upwards of 150,000 immigrant children will illegally gain entrance into the U.S. in the next year.[1] Under an anti-human-trafficking law passed in 2008 by the Bush Administration, unaccompanied minors from countries other than Mexico and Canada must be handed over to officials from the Office of Refugee Resettlement within 72 hours. They are then housed in shelters and, where possible, released to family members or sponsors in the US pending the resolution of their cases. Government agencies were not prepared for the sudden influx of such a massive number of child immigrants, and the facilities designated for holding such children are filled well beyond capacity. This situation raises a difficult question – what should be done with these children? Should they be sent back to their home countries where they may be exposed to sexual assault or gang violence? Should they be given asylum in … Continued