AP
April 23, 2015
There
won’t be nearly as many immigrant children who cross the border on
their own this summer as there were last year, top officials say.
Daniel
Ragsdale, deputy director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
said authorities expect far fewer migrant children and families than
the influx last year
that gained worldwide attention and left Border Patrol agents unable to
process so many people.
“I’m happy to say all the work we’ve done last year is bearing fruit,” Ragsdale said.
Ronald D. Vitiello, the Border Patrol’s deputy chief, agreed. “This year is far better off than last year,” he said.
Authorities
were overwhelmed last year with an influx of unaccompanied minors and
families with children last year. More than 68,000 youths from mostly
Central America
crossed the border without a parent last fiscal year.
But the numbers have tapered off, and authorities expect fewer migrants this summer.
Immigrant
advocates have been critical of the government’s response, saying most
of the children were fleeing extreme violence and threats and should
have been granted
asylum. “The federal government’s response to the large influx of
Central American children coming in has been nothing short of a policy
that undermines our basic humanitarian and asylum laws,” said Greg Chen,
director of advocacy for the American Immigration
Lawyers Association.
A
study released by the non-partisan, nonprofit Migration Policy
Institute found increased enforcement by the governments of the U.S.,
Mexico and some Central American
countries has slowed the influx. For example, Mexican authorities
apprehended 22,000 Central American children in the first 11 months of
2014. That’s almost three times as many as in all of 2013.
Mexican authorities deported 18,000 Central American children last year, compared with 7,000 the year before.
The
United States also stepped up enforcement, sending more Border Patrol
agents to south Texas, where the vast majority of children and families
crossed. The government
began detaining families seeking asylum and opened several facilities
for detaining families with children, some temporary. A federal judge in
February issued a preliminary injunction against the policy of
detaining families who seek asylum.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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