7/8/2014
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary Jeh Johnson is refusing to answer if the more than 50,000 unaccompanied children will be deported.
If they're not, where will these children stay in the United States?
Action 4 News did some digging to find out.
After children are apprehended by the Border Patrol they are turned over to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) so Action 4 News asked HHS, ‘If the children are not immediately deported what happens next?’
Health and Human Services tells Action 4 News they are unable to arrange media interviews regarding the HHS unaccompanied alien children program but through a little research on government websites we found what happens.
According to a 2008 law, children must "be promptly placed in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interest of the child."
1) After the child arrives in the U.S. they are identified and undergo a health screening and immigration processing.
2) The child is then transferred to a short-term multi-agency center where HHS provides medical checks, immunizations and shelter assignments.
3) DHS then transports them to an HHS run shelter like the one set up at Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio. (There are also sites run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement in Los Fresnos and other cities in the valley and south Texas.)
4) The children stay at the shelters until a family member is located in the U.S. The average length of stay is 35 days.
5) About 85 percent of children are placed with a family member or other sponsor.
1) After the child arrives in the U.S. they are identified and undergo a health screening and immigration processing.
2) The child is then transferred to a short-term multi-agency center where HHS provides medical checks, immunizations and shelter assignments.
3) DHS then transports them to an HHS run shelter like the one set up at Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio. (There are also sites run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement in Los Fresnos and other cities in the valley and south Texas.)
4) The children stay at the shelters until a family member is located in the U.S. The average length of stay is 35 days.
5) About 85 percent of children are placed with a family member or other sponsor.
Weslaco immigration attorney San Juanita Campos says the children are treated no differently than a citizen.
"The child will be treated like a child that is abandoned in the United States with child protective services," Campos said.
But the surge of children this past month has overcrowded the system.
From 2003 to 2011 about 6,700 children went through this process every year, the numbers then began escalating in 2012.
Only half way through 2014, we have almost seen as many children as the government anticipated for the entire year.
"This influx is very different than with other children, you don't see too many kids this young traveling alone,” Campos said.
And with such a drastic increase Campos says if the children's families aren't found, the children may end up in the foster system here in the United States.
"They are sending kids into foster care because now they are treating this like a humanitarian issue versus an immigration issue so they have to run then through the foster care system,” Campos said.
Many are asking how much these unaccompanied children will cost taxpayers.
Congress appropriated $868 million for the projected 60,000 children anticipated this year.
With hundreds more crossing the border every day that number is expected to rise.
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