Just to clarify: Under current law, the Border Patrol is required to take child migrants who arent from Mexico into custody, screen them, and transfer them to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (a part of the Department of Health and Human Services). The Obama administration doesnt have much leeway in dealing with unaccompanied child migrants. Thats because Congress set a particular process here as a way of fighting human trafficking. (These laws reinforced a 1997 government lawsuit settlement that set certain standards for care.) Most of this process was codified by Congress under the Homeland Security Act of 2002; Congress added some additional protections under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, in 2008. The law tasks HHS with either finding a suitable relative to whom the child can be released, or putting the child in long-term foster care. President Obama has requested Congress to change the law.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 23:00:26 +0000
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