An influx
of unaccompanied children crossing the Mexican boarder is
putting a strain on the resources of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), the department tasked with providing basic
necessities to detained illegal immigrants.
In a bid
solicitation posted earlier this month, the agency said it
needs 3,500 pairs of 100 percent cotton men’s briefs from sizes
medium to extra large. But the agency has bigger problems than the
bare bottoms of border hoppers.
With more than 52,000 Central American minors arrested since
October, the patrol stations in South Texas have nowhere to put
them. According to permits obtained by the Associated
Press, the
U.S. government plans to turn an empty 22,000 square-foot warehouse
near the Rio Grande Valley’s busiest Border Patrol station into a
facility to house 1,000 children in “four fence-enclosed
pods inside a corrugated steel warehouse.” The new “processing
facility” will have rows of cells with unsecured doors and open
“interaction/play” areas.
Currently the U.S. detains minors who illegally enter the
country without an adult. A 2008 law requires them to be turned
over to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) within 72
hours. But because HHS is overwhelmed as well, this procedure is
rarely followed, said
Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Craig
Fugate during a recent congressional hearing.
When the children are finally turned over to HHS, they are
“processed” and then sent to shelters around the country. Only
later does the department make arrangements to send them back to
their home countries. This is not true for all children who are
caught crossing the border. Mexican
children can usually be sent back immediately.
The problem is that the majority of unaccompanied
children are coming from places like Honduras and
Guatemala. Tragically, many of these children are fleeing
to the U.S. to escape poverty and seek refuge from gangs and
violence.
Children and their families are reportedly being convinced by
people known as coyotes, who facilitate human
smuggling, that
they will receive permits to stay in the U.S. because of President
Obama’s 2011 Deferred Access for Childhood Arrivals program,
which allows young immigrants to apply for a two-year
authorization. The program would not apply to new immigrants,
however. Applicants must have been in the U.S. for at least five
years as of 2012.
And unfortunately things look like they’re only going to get
worse as the number of children immigrating illegally
is expected to keep rising. Border Patrol better order more
underwear.
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