5/16/14, "U.S. Setting Up Emergency Shelter in Texas as Youths Cross Border Alone," NY Times, Julia Preston
"With
border authorities in South Texas overwhelmed by a surge of young
illegal migrants traveling by themselves, the Department of Homeland
Security declared a crisis this week and moved to set up an emergency
shelter for the youths at an Air Force base in San Antonio, officials
said Friday.
After seeing children packed in a Border Patrol
station in McAllen, Tex., during a visit last Sunday, Homeland Security
Secretary Jeh Johnson on Monday declared “a level-four condition of
readiness” in the Rio Grande Valley. The alert was an official
recognition that federal agencies overseeing borders, immigration
enforcement and child welfare had been outstripped by a sudden increase
in unaccompanied minors in recent weeks.
On Sunday, Department of Health and Human Services officials will open a
shelter for up to 1,000 minors at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas,
authorities said, and will begin transferring youths there by land and
air. The level-four alert is the highest for agencies handling children
crossing the border illegally, and allows Homeland Security officials to
call on emergency resources from other agencies, officials said.
In
an interview on Friday, Mr. Johnson said the influx of unaccompanied
youths had “zoomed to the top of my agenda” after his encounters at the
McAllen Border Patrol station with small children, one of whom was 3.
The
children are coming primarily from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras,
making the perilous journey north through Mexico to Texas without
parents or close adult relatives. Last weekend alone, more than 1,000
unaccompanied youths were being held at overflowing border stations in
South Texas, officials said.
The
flow of child migrants has been building since 2011, when 4,059
unaccompanied youths were apprehended by border agents. Last year more
than 21,000 minors were caught, and Border Patrol officials had said
they were expecting more than 60,000 this year. But that projection has
already been exceeded.
By
law, unaccompanied children caught crossing illegally from countries
other than Mexico are treated differently from other migrants. After
being apprehended by the Border Patrol, they must be turned over within
72 hours to a refugee resettlement office that is part of the Health
Department. Health officials must try to find relatives or other adults
in the United States who can care for them while their immigration cases
move through the courts, a search that can take several weeks or more.
The
Health Department maintains shelters for the youths, most run by
private contractors, in the border region. Health officials had begun
several months ago to add beds in the shelters anticipating a seasonal
increase. But the plans proved insufficient to handle a drastic increase
of youths in recent weeks, a senior administration official said.
Mr.
Johnson said Pentagon officials agreed this week to lend the space at
Lackland, where health officials will run a shelter for up to four
months. The base was also used as a temporary shelter for unaccompanied
migrant youths in 2012. It became the focus of controversy when Gov.
Rick Perry of Texas objected, accusing President Obama of encouraging
illegal migration by sheltering the young people there.
Mr.
Johnson said the young migrants became a more “vivid” issue for him
after he persuaded his wife to spend Mother’s Day with him at the
station in McAllen. He said he asked a 12-year-old girl where her mother
was. She responded tearfully that she did not have a mother, and was
hoping to find her father, who was living somewhere in the United
States, Mr. Johnson said.
Mr.
Johnson said he had spoken on Monday with the ambassadors from Mexico
and the three Central American countries to seek their cooperation, and
had begun a publicity campaign to dissuade youths from embarking for the
United States.
“We
have to discourage parents from sending or sending for their children
to cross the Southwest border because of the risks involved,” Mr.
Johnson said. “A South Texas processing center is no place for a child.”
Officials
said many youths are fleeing gang violence at home, while some are
seeking to reunite with parents in the United States. A majority of
unaccompanied minors are not eligible to remain legally in the United
States and are eventually returned home."
=====================
Blog editor note: Please excuse wide gaps between paragraphs. Google doesn't like this article. They hope you won't read it.
=====================
Blog editor note: Please excuse wide gaps between paragraphs. Google doesn't like this article. They hope you won't read it.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment