White House Reverses Course on Quicker Deportations for Unaccompanied Minors

Last week the White House indicated the President would respond to the border crisis by seeking authorization to expedite deportations of unaccompanied minors. But the White House has apparently reversed course since last week and will no longer seek to deport those minors more quickly.

In the initial report published by USA Today last Wednesday, an unnamed White House official suggested President Obama would seek to address the crisis by updating a 2008 law which gives unaccompanied minors arriving from countries other than Mexico a delayed government response.

Under the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, children are turned over to HHS and given legal counsel who can help them make a claim for asylum. The purpose of the delay is to insure they are not victims of child trafficking and will not be returned to a dangerous situation.

Today, the AP reports Obama will ask for $2 billion in funding to address the border crisis but will not seek an expedited process to return the children to their countries of origin. Currently, children arriving from Mexico are treated under an expedited process in an attempt to discourage parents from sending them across the border.

Earlier today Breitbart News reported on a leaked DHS memo dated last month which states, “success at not being immediately repatriated drive OTM UC migration to the United States.” In other words, the fact that children from Central America are unlikely to be sent home immediately (if at all) is one factor driving the current crisis. The same memo says more than 53,000 unaccompanied minors are expected to arrive in the U.S. this fiscal year and more than 95,000 are expected next year.

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