It's not just about children. It's also about moms. "The unprecedented influx of immigrant youth overwhelming federal shelters has captured most of the headlines and roiled debate in Washington over how to solve the crisis....But an equally alarming — and less publicized — tide of women from those same countries are crossing over each day, children in tow. They're employing the same strategies as the unaccompanied minors: crossing the Rio Grande...and turning themselves in to the nearest Border Patrol unit. Border Patrol statistics show it's not just children crossing." Rick Jervis in USA Today.
Some may try to enter the U.S. multiple times, despite deportation threats. "The Obama administration says it will try to speed up deportations of tens of thousands of children who have illegally entered the U.S. from Central America in recent months. It's part of a stronger message the administration is hoping gets back to would-be migrants contemplating coming to the U.S. But the message isn't getting through, and even those who have recently been deported say they will try again." Carrie Kahn in NPR.
New port-of-entry deportation data don't help that message. "The number of immigrants under 18 who were deported or turned away at ports of entry fell from 8,143 in 2008, the last year of the George W. Bush administration, to 1,669 last year, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data released under a Freedom of Information Act request. Similarly, about 600 minors were ordered deported each year from nonborder states a decade ago. Ninety-five were deported last year...even as a flood of unaccompanied minors from Central America...began pouring across the Southwest border." Brian Bennett in the Los Angeles Times.
A public-health crisis in the works? "Diseases that are endemic to other countries are not always the same ones that we face in the United States....It is the reason immigrants who enter this country legally face rigorous screenings in advance of entry....Proof of vaccination is also mandatory....None of these rigorous screenings can be done in advance of entry on people who enter this country illegally and undetected. And once people are detained, the screenings they receive are not nearly as rigorous or effective....This is the reason that we have a potential public health crisis along our southern border." Marc Siegel in Slate.
The fast-tracked deportations could turn away kids who qualify for asylum. "The administration is considering making changes to the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), which requires that unaccompanied child migrants, excluding those from Canada or Mexico, who are apprehended by Border Patrol agents be held in custody...before they can be transferred to the care of a family member or sponsor while awaiting trial in an immigration court. Thus far, children...have been covered by these requirements, but the proposed changes would give them the same treatment as children arriving from Mexico and Canada." Brianna Lee in International Business Times.
Background reading: Our previous coverage: What the administration is doing about the child-migrant crisis and migrant-crisis policy dilemmas.
Other immigration reads:
Obama vows border fixes as protests go on. John D. McKinnon and Sheila V Kumar in The Wall Street Journal.
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