Feds grapple with surge of unaccompanied immigrant children

2013: 38,759

*2014: 47,017

*As of May 31.

Source: U.S. Border Patrol

Deaths on the southwest border by fiscal year

2011: 357

2012: 463

2013: 445

Source: U.S. Border Patrol

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cares for unaccompanied children who have no legal status in the U.S., who are under 18 and who have no parents or legal guardians who are able to care for them here. The federal agency has been caring for an increasing number of these children. Totals by fiscal year:

2012: 13,625

2013: 24,668

*2014: More than 29,000

*The federal government is projecting more than 60,000 for this fiscal year.

Source: U.S. Health and Human Services

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“It seems to be quite clear that what is driving this is what is happening in their home countries. In particular: violence and fear, poor economic conditions and the desire to be reunited with parents in the United States.”

Cecilia Munoz, White House domestic policy director

“The recent surge of children and teenagers from Central America showing up at our southern border is an administration-made disaster, and now President Obama is calling in FEMA to mitigate the damage.”

U.S. Rep. Robert Goodlatte, a Republican from Virginia and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee

“It seems to be quite clear that what is driving this is what is happening in their home countries. In particular: violence and fear, poor economic conditions and the desire to be reunited with parents in the United States.”

Cecilia Munoz, White House domestic policy director

“The recent surge of children and teenagers from Central America showing up at our southern border is an administration-made disaster, and now President Obama is calling in FEMA to mitigate the damage.”

U.S. Rep. Robert Goodlatte, a Republican from Virginia and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee

Deep coverage

Georgia is among the leading states for the number of immigrants living illegally within its borders, which is why The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has focused great resources on the subject of immigration in recent years.

Here are some other stories that have taken deep looks at the subject:

Ilsiar Jimenez has vivid memories of his perilous odyssey from his native Guatemala to the U.S. border.

He remembers watching out for wild animals and poisonous spiders. He remembers enduring days of hunger. He remembers almost half of the 28 immigrants in his traveling group had died, disappeared or had been detained by authorities by the end of their trip.

Ilsiar was just 16 last year when he made the nearly two-month journey to the border on foot and by car and truck. Now living in Flowery Branch, he is part of a surge of young immigrants who are illegally entering the U.S. without their parents. They are fleeing poverty and drug cartels in Mexico and Central America and seeking to reunite with families here.

As of May 31 of this fiscal year, authorities have apprehended 47,017 children crossing the southwest border, a 92 percent increase over the same period during the previous fiscal year. Those numbers reflect a troubling spike in girls and children under age 13, according to the government.

Saying the influx has resulted in an “urgent humanitarian situation,” President Barack Obama on Monday called for a special group of officials to focus on the problem. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate has been tapped to lead the group, which will help provide housing, medical care and transportation for the children.

So far, the government has reserved emergency space for 1,200 of them at an Air Force base in Texas and 600 at a naval base in California. Last month, the White House estimated it will cost $2.28 billion to care for these children during the next fiscal year, a $1.4 billion increase over the Obama administration’s original spending plan.

The government doesn’t keep state-by-state statistics, so it is unknown precisely how many of these children end up in Georgia. But local immigration attorneys say they have noticed a substantial increase here since last year. The U.S. Immigration Court in Atlanta is now holding two days of hearings a month for young immigrants who are facing deportation. That is up from just a half a day last year, immigration attorneys said.

Children such as Ilsiar who make the journey across the border face extreme dangers. Among them: drug and human smuggling gangs, robbers and sexual predators.

“How on earth did I ever survive?” Ilsiar said in Spanish as his attorney translated for him at her office in Norcross. “I ran. I escaped. I did a lot of things just so I could survive.”

Critics say the influx of young immigrants is the result of the Obama administration’s softening immigration enforcement. In particular, they point to how the government is offering deportation deferrals and work permits to immigrants who were illegally brought to the U.S. as children.

“The message to the world is basically this administration is soft,” said Roy Beck, the president of Numbers USA, a nonprofit that supports lower immigration levels. “When you send the word out that you are not going to enforce the law, a lot more people start breaking the law.”

The government cited different reasons for why the children are coming here: deprivation and violence inside and outside their homes in Central America and Mexico and the desire to reunite with relatives in the U.S. Those reasons are also highlighted in a March report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. That report is based on interviews with 404 unaccompanied or separated children from Mexico and Central America.

“It seems to be quite clear that what is driving this is what is happening in their home countries,” Cecilia Munoz, the White House’s domestic policy director, said during a conference call with reporters Monday. “In particular: violence and fear, poor economic conditions and the desire to be reunited with parents in the United States.”

Obama administration officials say the surge of children points to the need for an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws. The White House has endorsed legislation the Senate passed last year on a bipartisan vote. Among other things, the legislation seeks to clear massive backlogs in the nation’s legal immigration system, provide a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living illegally in the U.S. and boost border security. The Republican-led House has refused to take up the bill, saying it would reward lawbreakers.

Meanwhile, the government is running public awareness campaigns in Mexico and Central America, warning people about the dangers of illegally crossing the southwest border.

In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the number of people who died along that border reached 445, down from 463 the year before. Some are drowning or dying from exposure in remote areas while attempting to evade border authorities. The government is also warning people that recent migrants are not eligible for relief from deportation under the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Federal law prohibits the government from immediately deporting these children to countries that don’t border the U.S. The law also requires federal immigration authorities to quickly turn these children over to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That agency places them in a network of group homes until they can be reunited with relatives in the U.S. The children remain with those relatives while they go through deportation proceedings.

Last year, the government transferred Orlin Fernando Mejia to the care of his mother in Montgomery, Ala., after he was detained crossing the southwest border with an uncle. The 9-year-old Honduran boy was among dozens of children who attended deportation hearings in Atlanta’s immigration court one day late last month. The crowd of children, parents and attorneys was so big it spilled into the hallway.

Orlin dressed up for his hearing, wearing a blue sweater vest and a checkered dress shirt. Judge Madeline Garcia gently spoke to the boy through a Spanish interpreter, asking him his name before urging his mother, Lucia Mejia, to find an attorney. A clerk gave the mother a list of lawyers who could help her at little or no cost. She was told to bring Orlin back for another hearing at a later date.

“He was nervous,” Mejia said moments later as her son played with his little brother in the hallway. “I could see it in his eyes. He almost cried. He says he doesn’t want to go back. He was afraid the judge might deport him.”

Ilsiar has a similar story. Last year, the government transferred him to the care of an uncle in Gainesville after he was apprehended just across the border in Arizona. Ilsiar said his mother raised $3,250 to send him with guides — nicknamed coyotes — to the U.S. She did that, he said, so he could flee rival Guatemalan gangs that were trying to recruit him and were threatening his family.

Ilsiar’s uncle returned to Guatemala. With the help of Ilsiar’s attorney, Rebeca Salmon, the parents of one of his friends petitioned the Hall County Juvenile Court to declare him dependent upon the state and to approve them as his legal guardians. Ilsiar is in the middle of applying for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, which ultimately provides legal permanent residency. Salmon has asked the government to stop trying to deport Ilsiar now that he is applying for legal status. Ilsiar now lives with his legal guardians in Flowery Branch and has been enrolled in Hall County’s public school system. He dreams of starting a career in medicine, mechanics or construction here. Asked what he cherishes in the U.S., Ilsiar said: “Just practically everything.”

“I have hot water in my house,” he said. “I have a television. I have a living room. I have a floor. I have food — a lot of food. More than anything, I have a really good education.”