Politico
By Seung Min Kim
December 14, 2015
The
Obama administration is warning Congress that it may face “serious
funding challenges” in aiding unaccompanied immigrant children from
Central America, following a
considerable spike in the number of children trying to cross the
southern border in the last two months.
In
a letter to Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Health and Human Services
Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said the Administration for Children
and Families — the HHS agency
responsible for caring for the migrant children — could face
significant funding problems, even with budget numbers requested by
President Barack Obama, because of the rising numbers of unaccompanied
children.
“While
it is impossible to know if these trends will continue for the duration
of the fiscal year, we are very concerned about having adequate
resources to meet the needs
of the unaccompanied children that are being referred for HHS
services,” Burwell wrote in the letter obtained by POLITICO.
This
October and November, 10,588 minors traveling alone to the United
States were apprehended at the southern border, according to federal
officials — more than double
the number of children who tried to cross from Mexico in the same
period in 2014.
The
rising numbers are reviving concerns that played out in summer 2014,
when a substantial surge of unaccompanied minors from Central America
triggered a funding battle
in Congress and prompted then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry to deploy National
Guard troops to the border.
Obama
administration officials recently said they will open new shelters in
Texas and California to accommodate the children, whom Burwell
emphasized are fleeing their
home countries due to several factors including “economic instability,
drought, and violence in Central America.”
By
law, the unaccompanied migrant children — who mostly hail from El
Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala — are taken into custody of Health and
Human Services, which is responsible
for their care.
“Given
our statutory role, I am writing to reiterate the urgency and
importance of ensuring HHS has adequate resources to provide shelter and
referral services to these
children,” Burwell wrote to DeLauro.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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