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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 11:31 am
Time: 11:31 am
Results for child immigrants
3 results foundAuthor: American Immigration Council Title: Children in Danger: A guide to the Humanitarian Challenge at the Border Summary: The American Immigration Council has prepared this guide in order to provide policymakers, the media, and the public with basic information surrounding the current humanitarian challenge the U.S. is facing as thousands of young migrants show up at our southern border. This guide seeks to explain the basics. Who are the unaccompanied children and why are they coming? What basic protections are they entitled to by law? What happens to unaccompanied children once they are in U.S. custody? What has the government done so far? What additional responses have been proposed to address this issue? The children's reasons for coming to the United States, their care, our obligations to them as a nation, and the implications for foreign and domestic policies are critical pieces we must understand as we move toward solutions. Acknowledging the complexity of the situation, President Obama declared an "urgent humanitarian situation" along the southwest border requiring a coordinated federal effort by a range of federal agencies. The government's subsequent response has ignited a vigorous debate between advocates for refugees and unaccompanied minors and the government. We hope that this guide helps those engaging in the debate to understand the key concepts and America's laws and obligations related to unaccompanied children. Details: Washington, DC: American Immigration Council, 2014. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 30, 2014 at: http://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/docs/children_in_danger_a_guide_to_the_humanitarian_challenge_at_the_border_final.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/docs/children_in_danger_a_guide_to_the_humanitarian_challenge_at_the_border_final.pdf Shelf Number: 128069 Keywords: Border ControlChild ImmigrantsIllegal ImmigrationImmigration PolicyUnaccompanied Children (U.S.) |
Author: Gruben, William C. Title: "Illegal" Immigration on the U.S.-Mexico Border: Is It Really a Crisis? Summary: In recent months, print and television journalists have presented the American public with a "crisis" of illegal immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border. Much of this recent discussion has centered on Central American children traveling alone and on allegations that they are responding to motivations created by the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival policy. The word "crisis," however, can have alternative meanings. If a "crisis" of undocumented immigration means a historically large or very rapidly growing flow of undocumented immigrations, the overall national evidence shows today that there is no such crisis. Border Patrol apprehensions of undocumented immigrants attempting to cross the U.S.- Mexico border have in fact plummeted and remain far below levels a decade earlier. Nevertheless, apprehensions of children traveling alone have indeed surged. Many of these child immigrants are traveling alone from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. This flow of children from Central America requires careful examination, especially if compared to Mexico's numbers. Although Mexico's population is eight times Guatemala's, 15 times Honduras and 19 times El Salvador's, for example, the most recent partial-year apprehensions of unaccompanied children from each one of these countries have exceeded such apprehensions of children from Mexico. All this points to a surge of unaccompanied Central American children. But even this has to be qualified as a true crisis or not. While references to a record of apprehensions of unaccompanied child immigrants are correct, publicly available data for this category only go back to 2010. Thus, it may be preliminary to draw definitive conclusions about record numbers of unaccompanied children based on four full-fiscal-year observations plus monthly observations into a fifth year. Other data, including total apprehensions for any undocumented child immigrants, accompanied or otherwise, extend more than a decade. Preliminary estimates for fiscal year 2014 suggest that these apprehensions have remained below levels a decade earlier. Details: Houston, TX: James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, 2014. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December a0, 2014 at: http://bakerinstitute.org/media/files/files/4d562970/MC-Immig-Gruben_Payan-101714.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://bakerinstitute.org/media/files/files/4d562970/MC-Immig-Gruben_Payan-101714.pdf Shelf Number: 134308 Keywords: Border ControlChild ImmigrantsIllegal ImmigrationUndocumented Immigrants |
Author: Kandel, William A. Title: Unaccompanied Alien Children: An Overview Summary: In FY2014, the number of unaccompanied alien children (UAC, unaccompanied children) that were apprehended at the Southwest border while attempting to enter the United States without authorization increased sharply, straining the system put in place over the past decade to handle such cases. Prior to FY2014, UAC apprehensions were steadily increasing. For example, in FY2011, the Border Patrol apprehended 16,067 unaccompanied children at the Southwest border whereas in FY2014 more than 68,500 unaccompanied children were apprehended. In the first 8 months of FY2015, UAC apprehensions numbered 22,869, down 49% from the same period in FY2014. UAC are defined in statute as children who lack lawful immigration status in the United States, who are under the age of 18, and who either are without a parent or legal guardian in the United States or without a parent or legal guardian in the United States who is available to provide care and physical custody. Two statutes and a legal settlement directly affect U.S. policy for the treatment and administrative processing of UAC: the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-457); the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296); and the Flores Settlement Agreement of 1997. Several agencies in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS's) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) share responsibility for the processing, treatment, and placement of UAC. DHS Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehends and detains unaccompanied children arrested at the border while Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) handles custody transfer and repatriation responsibilities. ICE also apprehends UAC in the interior of the country and represents the government in removal proceedings. HHS coordinates and implements the care and placement of unaccompanied children in appropriate custody. Foreign nationals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico accounted for almost all UAC cases in recent years, especially in FY2014. In FY2009, when the number of UAC apprehended at the Southwest border was 19,688, foreign nationals from Mexico accounted for 82% of all UAC apprehensions at the Southwest border and the three Central American countries accounted for 17% of these apprehensions. In FY2014, the proportions had almost reversed, with Mexican UAC comprising only 23% of UAC apprehensions and unaccompanied children from the three Central American countries comprising 77%. To address the crisis, the Administration developed a working group to coordinate the efforts of federal agencies involved. It also opened additional shelters and holding facilities to accommodate the large number of UAC apprehended at the border. In June 2014, the Administration announced plans to provide funding to the affected Central American countries for a variety of programs and security-related initiatives; and in July, the Administration requested $3.7 billion in supplemental appropriations for FY2014 to address the crisis. Congress debated the supplemental appropriations but did not pass such legislation. For FY2015, Congress appropriated nearly $1.6 billion for the Refugee and Entrant Assistance Programs in ORR, the majority of which is directed toward the UAC program (P.L. 113-235). For DHS agencies, Congress appropriated $3.4 billion for detection, enforcement, and removal operations, including for the transport of unaccompanied children for CBP. The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, FY2015 (P.L. 114-4) also permits the Secretary of Homeland Security to reprogram funds within CBP and ICE and transfer such funds into the two agencies' "Salaries and Expenses" accounts for the care and transportation of unaccompanied children. P.L. 114-4 also allows for several DHS grants awarded to states along the Southwest border to be used by recipients for costs or reimbursement of costs related to providing humanitarian relief to unaccompanied children. Congressional activity on two pieces of legislation in the 114th Congress (H.R. 1153 and H.R. 1149) would make changes to current UAC policy, including amending the definition of UAC, altering current law on the treatment of unaccompanied children from contiguous countries, and amending several asylum provisions that would alter how unaccompanied children who assert an asylum claim are processed, among other things. Several other bills have been introduced without seeing legislative activity (H.R. 191/S. 129, H.R. 1700, H.R. 2491, and S. 44). Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2015. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: CRS Report R43599: Accessed August 26, 2015 at: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43599.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43599.pdf Shelf Number: 136587 Keywords: Child ImmigrantsChild Protection Immigrant ChildrenUnaccompanied Alien ChildrenUndocumented Children Undocumented Immigrants |