Number of migrant children in US custody hits record high

[Julian Englis]

Source: The Hill

A record high 14,000 migrant children are in U.S. government custody, as the White House implements its hard-line stance on immigration.

“Currently, there are approximately 14,000 minors in the unaccompanied alien children program, a number that can fluctuate up or down," Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer said Friday in a statement to The Hill. "The Trump Administration continues to enforce current laws to address our nation’s crisis at the border.”

The San Francisco Chronicle first reported the record number.

The news comes as thousands of Central American migrants, including women and children, make their way to the U.S.-Mexico border, with many intending to seek asylum from violence in their home countries

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/417210-number-of-immigrant-children-in-us-custody-reaches-all-time-high

[KCDebbie]

1. 14,000 children in ICE detention in the US at a cost of

$770/child/day... Do the math! This new family separation policy is a financial windfall to the for-profit prison/human warehousing industry!

[scarytomcat]

4. and if gave the families half the money they would stimulate the economy and be middle class

this is insane
how are they getting away with this?

[Bayard]

2. I don't understand this

MSNBC had the ACLU on this evening talking about the number being down to a 100 or so.

[EleanorR]

3. Most of the kids torn from their parents are now out of the system (TY ACLU and others)

I believe these are unaccompanied kids.

The reason is that children who arrive unaccompanied in the U.S. are spending more time in holding facilities before they can be released to suitable adults, often family members. One change that has especially slowed that down is an agreement Health and Human Services signed earlier this year for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to do background checks on potential sponsors.

ICE confirmed in September that it had used that information to arrest undocumented adults who came forward to take custody of children. Previous administrations didn’t look into people’s immigration status when deciding whether to release children into their care, but that changed under President Trump.

The Health and Human Services care system was intended to be a temporary bridge for often-traumatized children into a more stable home while they sought legal status in the U.S. But the Trump administration changed course, declaring that no undocumented immigrant was off limits from potential arrest and deportation.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/nation/article/More-than-14-000-immigrant-children-are-in-U-S-13399510.php