Aid Scarce for Immigrant Children in South Texas

Aid Scarce for Immigrant Children in South Texas by Jacob Fischler

To read this article on the Youth Today website, click here.

Nearly 63,000 unaccompanied children — mostly from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador — crossed into the United States between Oct. 1 and July 31 without prior permission, according to government data released early in August. Another nearly 63,000 people crossed with family members. The numbers represent an increase of nearly triple over the same period last year.

Central American immigrants overwhelmed federal authorities on the border earlier this summer, as Border Patrol and other immigration enforcement agents could not quickly enough process them and move them on to their destination cities — Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, D.C., Los Angeles, New York — across the U.S. interior.