From January to September this year, more than 11,254 foreign children were placed in the custody of families in the United States, after attempting to enter the country unlawfully, alone or accompanied, the United States authorities said. The estimate was released by the Senate.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) estimates that the fate of 1,488 children is still unknown. These 1,488 children are the ones the department is able to contact between April 1 and June 30.
For the US Senate, children considered "lost" are those that the Department of Health and Human Services has no record of the place or families to which they were sent.
There are also reports of children detained alone on the border with Mexico and others accompanied by parents arrested in North American territory as a result of the policy of "zero tolerance" for illegal immigration from the government of Donald Trump.
The families called "sponsors" host the children, after their temporary stay in shelters. In hundreds of cases, legal guardians are deported and children remain in the United States. Proposal
A bipartisan Senate commission argues that the government should clarify the situation of children, the children of deported immigrants, and ensure their safety. To this end, it proposes a project called the Unaccompanied Minors Responsibility Law.
Presented yesterday (19), the project intends to add 225 immigration judges to reduce the delay in the analysis of these processes. It also recommends that those assigned to custody have constant oversight by the government to verify the conditions under which children are exposed.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal has called for children not to be placed in situations subject to negligence. "Children who risk their lives on a dangerous journey in search of asylum should not worry about being victims of human trafficking or being handed over to abusive or negligent adults in the United States," he said on social networks.
Through the bill, the government will be required to monitor the situation of migrant children and to provide accurate information in court proceedings. However, the record of disposing of immigrant children in the custody of American families is not just a measure of the Trump era.
A study by the Department of Health and Human Services shows that, since 2014, more than 135,000 unaccompanied children and adolescents have been placed in adult custody in the United States, as well as others awaiting immigration hearings.
Following the release of the Senate study, the Department of Health and Human Services released a statement denying that children are "lost."
"What usually happens is that adult sponsors are usually family members who simply did not respond or could not be contacted when called to bring the children to the hearings," said department spokeswoman Caitlin Oakey.
According to the spokeswoman, the adults who are part of the project to host children and adolescents underwent a criminal background check and financial capacity to provide children.
