{"id":31578,"date":"2021-03-21T12:55:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-21T16:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=31578"},"modified":"2021-03-13T10:10:31","modified_gmt":"2021-03-13T15:10:31","slug":"if-96-percent-stay-in-the-us-why-not-open-the-borders-to-young-looking-migrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2021\/03\/21\/if-96-percent-stay-in-the-us-why-not-open-the-borders-to-young-looking-migrants\/","title":{"rendered":"If 96 percent stay in the US, why not open the borders to young-looking migrants?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Considering migrants who\u2019ve arrived since 2014, of those who have said that they were under 18 years old at the time of border crossing (as these folks are undocumented, there is no way to know their actual age), 96 percent are still in the U.S. according to “Hundreds of minors are crossing the border each day without their parents. Who are they?”<\/a> (Washington Post):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Central American and Mexican children, tweens and teenagers traveling without parents are crossing the border in soaring numbers, once more creating a logistical and humanitarian emergency for the U.S. government.<\/p>

If the climbing trend line continues, the Biden administration will take in record numbers of unaccompanied minors this month, an influx made more challenging by the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>

To accommodate the growing numbers and meet social distancing guidelines, the administration opened a tent facility in Carrizo Springs, Tex., last month. The Biden administration is planning to open additional tent sites in the coming weeks and is looking at Moffett Field in California, Fort Lee in Virginia and other federal properties where it can set up temporary shelters.<\/p>

Most unaccompanied minors cross the border into the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. Some try to evade capture after crossing, but most seek out U.S. border agents to begin the process of making a humanitarian claim.<\/p>

The odds of being deported are low. DHS statistics show that just 4.3 percent of the 290,000 minors who have crossed the border without a parent since 2014 have been returned to their countries.<\/strong> Of the rest, 52 percent had immigration cases pending. An additional 28 percent had been granted humanitarian protection by U.S. courts and 16 percent had been ordered to leave, but lacked a confirmed departure or deportation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Most of these folks will end up on a lifetime of means-tested “not welfare” government programs, e.g., public housing, Medicaid, SNAP (“food stamps” or “EBT<\/a>“), and Obamaphone. Why add to the working taxpayers’ burden by funding immigration courts, lawyers, border guards (the “welcoming committee” since the minors do not try to avoid being “captured”), and detention facilities (#TentsNotCages?) if the almost inevitable result is the \u201cminor\u201d staying?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separately, should we be funding hot drinks from Chocolate Mayordomo<\/a> for migrants passing through Oaxaca (photo from a 2005 trip)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Also from 2005, modern-day migrants repopulate, at least during the daytime, a city that had been abandoned for more than 1,000 years (Monte Alban<\/a>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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