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 reached a peak, 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 U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) apprehended 16,067 unaccompanied children at the Southwest border, whereas in FY2014 more than 68,500 unaccompanied children were apprehended. In FY2015, UAC apprehensions declined 42% to 39,970. At the close of FY2016 they increased to 59,692, roughly 20,000 more than in FY2015, and 9,000 less than the peak of FY2014. During the first two months of FY2017 (October and November, 2016), USBP apprehended 14,128 unaccompanied children. Apprehensions in the first two months of FY2015 and FY2016 were 5,143 and 10,588, respectively.
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.
Agencies in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) share responsibility for the processing, treatment, and placement of UAC. DHS’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehends and detains unaccompanied children arrested at the border. DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) handles custody transfer and repatriation responsibilities, apprehends UAC in the interior of the country, and represents the government in removal proceedings. HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) 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, Mexico accounted for 82% of the 19,688 UAC apprehensions at the Southwest border, while the other three Central American countries accounted for 17%. In FY2014, the proportions had almost reversed, with Mexican nationals comprising 23% of UAC apprehensions and the three Central American countries comprising 77%. In FY2016, Mexican nationals made up 20% of all UAC apprehensions.
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43599.pdf
Posted By: Adam Fate
Sunday, June 17th 2018 at 1:02AM
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