From October 1, 2013 to June 11, 2014, 378 unaccompanied children ages two-years old and younger have reportedly been detained by US Border patrol Agents for crossing the southern border illegally.
According to Fusion, they obtained their information from the office of a high-ranking Democratic senator. They stated, moreover, that 95 of the children apprehended were infants under 1 year old.
Neither the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol or the Department of Homeland Security would respond specifically to the situation but instead referred Fusion to a previous released statement regarding the data on unaccompanied alien children. Significantly, the statistics show a 99% increase from 26,206 in 2013 to 52,193 in Southwest Border unaccompanied children apprehensions for fiscal year 2014. Furthermore, the Department of Health and Human Services, who are charged with taking care of the illegal immigrant children, chose to remain silent regarding the toddler apprehensions.
Emily Butera, a senior program officer at the Women’s Refugee Commission, claims that she had witnessed “babies and toddlers” in previous years being escorted by siblings or paid smugglers across the border, but now the situation has deteriorated.
President Obama, responding to criticism such as House Speaker John Boehner’s remark on Thursday that “the wheels are coming off his presidency,” is looking to mitigate the border mayhem and is seeking alternatives to housing the immigrants in huge detention centers on the border, which he has classified as an “urgent humanitarian crisis.”
One alternative to warehousing the illegal aliens has been suggested by the office of Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL). “There are alternatives to detention like ankle bracelets and supervision to manage the backlog in processing that are much more humane and cost-effective than taxpayer-funded public or for-profit detention centers,” a spokesman said.
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