Unaccompanied Minors

On the Southwest Border we are facing an escalating refugee crisis. Since October, 52,000 unaccompanied minors have crossed into the United States from Mexico. Parents are handing over their young children by the thousands to cartels who are profiting by smuggling these kids to the United States. Many are under the age of 10, including some barely old enough to walk. These children with no parents, relatives, or legal guardians risk a perilous and sometimes fatal journey, riding buses or trains from Central America via Mexico. When they arrive at the border, the children are simply turning themselves in to the nearest Border Patrol Agents. However, patrol stations are not set up to handle this massive and growing number of detainees, let alone children. Shelters have been established like the one at Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio. The Department of Homeland Security and the United States Government as a whole has been slow to act, turning a blind eye to the warning signs. The tragic fact is these children are making a dangerous journey based on misinformation and the false promise of amnesty. In recent internal DHS surveys, these children reveal that more than 70 percent believe they are going to stay in the country.