Detained immigrant children line up in the cafeteria at the Karnes County Residential Center, in Karnes City, Texas, a temporary home for immigrant women and children detained at the border. NPR News
The Community Demands Transparency This Issue
It seems year after year HHS faces a crisis of migrant children, and continues to make the same mistakes in the care provided to them. Currently there are thousands of young migrant children, unaccompanied in their arrival to the United States. Under federal law, these children must be turned over to HHS custody, by CBP officials, withing 72 hours.
It has already been reported that even this rule is not currently being strictly obeyed. We are hearing that many facilities are at capacity, if not nearing it, and that there are many immigrant children stuck in Texas that have families across the United States.
In this moment, we deeply urge President Biden and Vice President Harris, to take a deep look at how the Trump administration dismantled the ORR and its process for reunifying UAM with relatives in the United States.
Under the previous administration, some reunifications came to a near stand-still after the Trump HHS allowed for ORR reunification information to be shared with DHS officials. This resulted, as it was intended to, in the detention of several ‘sponsors’ of children.
At last resort, there is absolutely no reason why these kids need to be detained right now. We want better.
This is a Humanitarian Crisis
High Plains Public Radio
By Stella M. Chávez
The League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, is calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to allow the Texas Rangers to apply for a special visa on behalf of unaccompanied children coming to the U.S.
Fernando Dubove, a Dallas immigration attorney, says the Texas Rangers could apply for what is known as an S visa. This is a special type of visa that could be granted to an unauthorized immigrant who cooperates with law enforcement in a criminal investigation.
“Once you have that application filed and then you get a hearing date with an immigration judge, the fact that you have that application filed usually lets the immigration judge basically stay the case, or leave it pending or continue the case until that visa is adjudicated,” Dubove said. “So just filing the application helps the kids down the road when they go before an immigration judge.”
