Undocumented immigrant minors are surging over the border into the United States at a rate last seen during the controversial influx in the summer of 2014. The Obama administration claimed that its media blitz explaining that crossing the border would not make such minors eligible for deferred action would put an end to the surge of undocumented immigrants; however, the campaign appears to have made little difference.
Around 3,000 undocumented unaccompanied immigrant minors apparently walked into the United States over the Mexican border last month. Border Patrol officials are worried that this number will once again rise to tens of thousands now that the cold winter is coming to an end.
In the first six months of the 2015 fiscal year Border Patrol agents apprehended no less than 15,647 undocumented unaccompanied immigrant minors; 28,579 were apprehended in the same period last year. The unaccompanied minors have to be provided with educational services, food, medical care and shelter. 13,911 families have also been apprehended by Border Patrol in the current fiscal year. “These statistics show that the surge of illegal arrivals from Central America was never really over,” says the policy studies director for the Center for Immigration Studies, Jessica Vaughan.
A recent poll conducted by Rasmussen revealed that 62% of Americans believe that the government has not been aggressive enough when it comes to deporting undocumented immigrants.
