President Barack Obama’s repeated assurances that U.S. borders are secure, especially the Mexican Border, are being repudiated daily. Over the past several weeks, on a daily basis, an estimated 500 undocumented/unaccompanied children, 3 to 18 years of age, have crossed the U.S.-Mexican border into Texas.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer cried foul upon learning that the Obama Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was stealthily busing more than a thousand children who illegally entered the country in Texas to Arizona. There DHS officials were “dumping” these undocumented/unaccompanied children at bus stations with a bottle of water and a snack. After Governor Brewer filed her complaint, the DHS began finding housing for the children.
Whether it is Phoenix, Tucson, or Nogales, Arizona taxpayers will be hit hard with this unexpected trans-shipped human cargo. Sites other than Arizona will have to be found to properly care for these youngsters.
Meanwhile, DHS has been flying undocumented family members and undocumented family friends to Arizona to care for the children. DHS refuses to comment on the legality of a federal agency flying undocumented adults from points around the country to Arizona. How was DHS able to identify and locate these undocumented relations? U.S. citizen-taxpayers are asking, “Has the United States lost complete control of the Mexican border?”
On May 28, the Business and Financial News section of Reuters headlined a story, “Waves of immigrant minors present crisis for Obama, Congress.” According to Reuters, an estimated 60,000 undocumented children will pour into the United States this year. Other estimates put the number of unaccompanied/undocumented children crossing the U.S. border at 94,000.
The Obama administration projects that 142,000 unaccompanied/undocumented children will cross the border in 2015.
All parties to this debacle predict that the numbers will mount. The Obama administration estimates that these unaccompanied/undocumented/underage immigrants will cost U.S. taxpayers $868 million in 2014 and up to $2 billion by the end of 2015.
The real costs will be higher. Many of the teenage girls have babies with them or are pregnant. Pregnancy and motherhood increases entitlements for these teenagers and strengthens their “deferred deportation” status. If they deliver their babies in the United States, they are mothers of U.S. citizens.
Democrats point out that “luckily” the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is in place to take care of health problems, at no cost to these children, as a humanitarian response. Immigrant advocates also are demanding benefits, such as proper housing, clothing, and education.
The world recognizes that Americans are the most humanitarian of people; thus those in need come here. This new flood of young unaccompanied immigrants will cost billions of taxpayer dollars.
Military bases are now housing these children, until they can be reunited with documented or undocumented relatives or friends. The majority of the children are teenagers, and they say that poverty, criminal violence, and reports of U.S. amnesty motivated them to make the potentially dangerous trip from their homes in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
Military base security is a growing concern. Could the undocumented, underage foreign nationals being housed on military bases impact the security and daily operations of the military, and at what cost? Will security clearances identify those undocumented teenagers who are gang members? How will the teenage mothers and pregnant girls be housed? Where will the younger children, some as young as 3 years old be housed and cared for?
On May 29, USA Today reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) determined that the United States has the highest number of measles cases since 1994, and the number is growing. What efforts have DHS made to protect U.S. citizens from possible diseases carried by these children and what efforts has DHS taken to guard against the outbreak of epidemics?
Those foreign nationals who go through the detailed and lengthy process of becoming legal immigrants have rigid medical requirements to meet. How can the Obama administration allow by attrition an open-border policy that threatens the public health?
The Obama administration knew or should have known that its lax immigration policies would mean new surges of undocumented foreign nationals of all ages. It knew or should have known that moving unaccompanied, undocumented young immigrants from state to state and then “dumping” them at bus stations was inhumane.
A question that the U.S. Border Patrol must answer is, “How do children, as young as 3 years old, cross a secure border? It is obvious that they were meant to be apprehended so they would be united with family or given all the necessary services including “deferred deportation” status for residence in the United States.
This new surge of underage undocumented foreign nationals means one thing for sure. Any incomprehensible comprehensive immigration bill is now dead in the U.S. Congress.
James H. Walsh was associate general counsel with the U.S. Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service from 1983 to 1994. Read more reports from James Walsh — Click Here Now.
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