Two-Month Border Surge Brings Nearly 11,000 New Illegal Alien Minors to U.S.

A two-month border surge has brought nearly 11,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) across the border into the United States from Mexico. The numbers of children crossing without parents is double that of the same period from 2014.

In October and November of 2015, 10,588 UACs have crossed the border, mostly from Central American countries, the Daily Mail reported. Family crossings are also spiking and nearly tripled the previous year’s numbers for the same period.

The massive surge of children fleeing their Central American homes and mostly crossing the Mexican border into Texas has overwhelmed federal authorities’ ability to house the children leading to the relocation of hundreds of young illegal aliens to two counties in northern Texas, as reported by Breitbart Texas.

A resort-like camp in Ellis County began receiving some of the children on Saturday, as reported by the Dallas Morning News. The children are expected to be between the ages of 12 and 17. They are expected to receive 700 children who will be processed and either returned to their country of origin or resettled with family members in the United States within three weeks.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Office of Refugee Resettlement has begun the process of expanding the number of beds available to house the children. The number of beds rose by 500 from 7,900 to 8,400 in November, the Daily Mail reported.

The CBP said it is continuing to “aggressively work to secure our borders” and will attempt to deter future crossings. In the meantime, the CBP is planning to open two additional shelters in Texas and one in California. They are attempting to be able to hold nearly 10,000 children at any given time.

The children are reportedly fleeing their home countries because of violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, immigration advocates told the Dallas Morning News.

At the shelter in Ellis County, Sheriff Johnny Brown assured his citizens that adequate security will be in place to keep the children inside the compound. He said law enforcement agencies from across the county have contributed to the law enforcement presence he is providing for security.

A 2014 report from the Syracuse University-based nonprofit cited by the Dallas Morning News states that children appearing in immigration court who do not have representation are deported nine out of ten times. Children are only represented by counsel in 43 percent of cases.

Due to American laws it is very difficult for these children to be classified as refugees under the Refugee Act of 1980 before entering the U.S. Even after arrival, it has proven difficult. When represented by counsel, 53 percent are still deported either through an order of removal or by voluntary deportation.

However, in over 101,000 juvenile cases filed in the past ten years, 41,641 remain pending showing how overwhelmed the immigration courts remain. Juvenile cases make up only 11 percent of the total number of deportation cases heard by the courts, the report concludes.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter@BobPriceBBTX.