As more illegal immigrant children continue to cross the U.S. border into Texas, the U.S. government has begun to send children back to their home countries. In fact, it has been reported that in 2011 approximately 13,525 children crossed the border, but then in 2012 that number rose to nearly 25,000. Since October of last year the number of unaccompanied minors illegally crossing the U.S. border has risen to 47,000.
The Foreign Ministry had recorded that from January to April of this year, the Mexican Consular assisted approximately 6,233 unaccompanied minors back to Mexico in a process referred to as repatriation. Many of these children had in fact been detained while crossing the U.S. border. However 77% of them had been captured at least once prior to their repatriation this year, and 21% had been recorded in attempting to cross the border up to 5 times.
Marc Rosenblum, Migration Policy Institute Specialist, believes this increase could be the result of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act passed in 2008 by former President, George W Bush. This Act provides protection for unaccompanied minors that are not from Mexico or Canada. According to research, Mexican children come to the United States in search for protection against poverty, violence, and drug cartels and in some cases to be reunited with family. However, throughout the first few months of 2014 the Mexican government has reported that over 6,000 Mexican children were returned to Mexico.
The Obama administration has requested 2.3 million USD from Congress in order to help fund the Health and Human Services organization that caters to the needs of these illegal immigrant minors. However, the government claims that the lack of preparedness is due to an unexpected surpass of their estimations of children entering the country illegally. Either way, the U.S. government does not appear to have all the resources necessary to care for this large intake of children. As a result, the President Barack Obama, has not only arranged for facilities in Texas, Arizona, and Miami, but also in Oklahoma, to receive these children and help with the process of either giving them U.S. residency or returning them home.
