About 800 immigrant children from Central America who have entered the United States will be moved to two campsites in the Dallas area during December, according to a report from Al Jazeera. Data from the U.S Border control show 10,558 unaccompanied children, mainly from Central America, entered the United States illegally in October and November 2015, about double the number that arrived over the same period last year. Officials say rather than fleeing, many of the children look for U.S. officials, surrender, and request political asylum, citing violence and endemic crime in their home countries. If granted asylum, they are allowed to stay in the United States.
The number of children entering by this manner increased last summer, the total about 63,000 since July 2014. Many were fleeing criminal gangs and drug-related violence in their home countries.
Local churches in Texas have offered to take in many of the children to shelter them.
Officials in Texas counties said they received little notice from state and federal agencies of the arrivals. If the churches begin to get too crowded, the children will likely be moved into a U.S. government-run facility, or be turned over to family members in the United States until their immigration status is decided.
The last increase in unaccompanied minors created what the Obama administration described as a humanitarian crisis. To contain it, U.S. authorities opened temporary shelters, reassigned border agents, added processing centers and immigration judges and started Spanish-language campaigns in the countries that most of the children were fleeing, such as El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
It also led to backlash from Republican leaders who said the Democratic president was not doing enough to secure the border. Immigration has been a hot topic this presidential election and the recent rise in unaccompanied minors into the United States will only add to the debate. The Republican party has already been the subject of media criticism due to the comments made by Donald Trump regarding barring Muslims who would want to enter the country to escape from war in their home lands.
Consequently, immigration has also been a hot topic in the 2016 presidential debate and most of the Republican candidates plan to close the border to Mexico significantly.
The most lenient of stances comes from Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, Rand Paul, And Marco Rubio, all of whom consider a “path to stay,” certain requirements for citizenship that vary from candidate to candidate. Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Santorum, are all opposed to legalizing undocumented immigrants, such as these children fleeing the circumstances of their home countries.