In an effort to streamline illegal immigration services, the US government has approved a permit to turn a 55,000 square-foot warehouse in south Texas into a processing center for the ever-increasing number of migrant children who cross the Rio Grande illegally.
This comes in response to the 52,000 migrant children who have crossed the border since October, nearly double the amount during the same period in the year before.
Many of the children, separated from their parents, are fleeing the same three countries: Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, where gang violence and drug wars are running rampant. Some of the parents have already reached America, and have worked to save enough money so as to afford a 'coyote,' the term for a border smuggler, to move their children across the border.
The new detention center in Texas is set to accommodate up to 1000 children, but it may have to make room for many more: other detention centers, such as the one in Nogales, Arizona, are overcrowded and unsanitary. Conditions such as those are conducive to illness, and may become breeding grounds for contagious diseases.
After being processed, many of the children will be released to either family members already living in the United States, or to a shelter where they wait until their court-mandated immigration hearing. The hearings are perfunctory, as they are tantamount to an indictment.
It has been reported that many immigrants confuse the hearing notice as a permit to reside in the country, which has caused much misinformation to spread throughout communities in Central and South America. Many have told border guards and immigration officials that they heard permits were being given out to any who wished to enter and work in the United States, something that President Obama has ardently denied.
The president has enacted programs to help fight the endemic poverty and domestic security concerns in the three main countries from which people flee. The programs involve sending several million dollars earmarked for specific anti-crime and anti-gang initiatives, though congressional watchdogs have stated that transparency in the programs and the countries themselves have been an issue.
Many migrants have come to the US seeking asylum away from the violence in their countries, which would warrant a judicial review of their cases and a possibility of a residency visa.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
