Federal
officials
lose
track of
nearly
1,500
migrant
children
in US
Andrea
González-Ramírez
Refinery29.com
Federal
officials
lost
track of
nearly
1,500
migrant
children
that
showed
up at
the
Southwest
border
alone
and were
placed
in the
care of
sponsors.
Yes, you
read
that
right:
No one
knows
what
happened
with
1,475
immigrant
kids.
The
news
flew
under
the
radar
when
Steven
Wagner,
the
acting
assistant
secretary
of the
Department
of
Health
and
Human
Services
’s
Administration
for
Children
and
Families,
testified
before
Congress
in late
April.
But now
that
Attorney
General
Jeff
Sessions
has
instructed
agents
to
separate
parents
and
children
entering
the U.S.
illegally,
instead
of
keeping
them
together
in
detention,
questions
have
been
raised
over
whether
the
federal
government
can
protect
these
kids.
Wagner
testified
that
between
October
and
December
of 2017,
the
Office
of
Refugee
Resettlement
(ORR)
tried to
reach
sponsors
to find
out
about
the
7,635
children
placed
under
their
care.
The
migrant
kids
came
mostly
from
Honduras,
El
Salvador,
and
Guatemala.
Government
data
shows
that
they
flew
their
countries
because
of
issues
such as
gang
violence
and
domestic
abuse,
and
arrived
in the
United
States
unaccompanied.
Wagner
said ORR
officials
found
that
6,075
children
remained
with
their
sponsors.
Over 80
were not
for
other
circumstances:
Five
children
were
deported,
28 ran
away,
and 52
had been
relocated
with a
nonsponsor.
But
officials
were
unable
to
determine
what
happened
with the
remaining
1,475
children
— about
19% —
raising
fears
that the
kids are
victims
of human
traffickers
or
laborers
who
posed as
their
relatives
in order
to
become
sponsors.
Those
fears
are not
unfounded:
A recent
Frontline
documentary
says
federal
agencies
released
at least
eight
Guatemalan
teens
into the
custody
of human
traffickers
in 2014.
While
Sessions'
guidance
is
fairly
recent,
separating
migrant
parents
and
children
has been
happening
already.
Since
October
2017,
more
than 700
children
were
taken
away
from
their
undocumented
guardians,
including
more
than 100
children
under
the age
of four.
Sessions'
goal is
to
prosecute
everyone
who
enters
the U.S.
without
authorization,
and
separating
children
from
parents
is in
theory
similar
to what
would
happen
if a
U.S.
citizen
is
convicted
and
jailed.
"If
you
cross
this
border
unlawfully,
then we
will
prosecute
you.
It's
that
simple,"
Sessions
said
earlier
this
month.
But
immigrants
are
entitled
to a
hearing
in
immigration
court to
determine
their
fate,
and that
legal
process
can take
a very
long
time.
(The
backlog
of
pending
immigration
court
cases is
currently
over
650,000.)
Separating
parents
and
children
at the
border,
and
keeping
them at
separate
detention
centers,
means
that
family
reunification
could
potentially
take
years.
And what
happens
if the
children
are
released
into the
custody
of
someone
pretending
to be a
family
member?
The
policy
is part
of
Sessions'
plans to
reshape
the U.S.
immigration
system.
He tried
to
President
Obama's
Deferred
Action
for
Childhood
Arrivals
(DACA)
program,
which
protected
Dreamers,
the
undocumented
immigrants
who
arrived
in the
U.S. as
children;
imposed
case
quotas
on
immigration
judges,
which
could
jeopardize
the
courts'
impartiality
and lead
to more
deportations;
and is
currently
looking
into
whether
domestic
violence
victims
are
eligible
for
asylum.
Even
though
the
ORR's
found
out
about
the
missing
children
late
last
year,
there's
still no
update
on their
fate.
Federal
officials
say
they're
not
legally
responsible
for the
kids
once
they are
released
from the
refugee
office.
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