Surge in Unaccompanied Children from Central America Now Starting

Article audio sponsored by The John Birch Society

The surge of illegal aliens from Central America crossing the southern U.S. border — including many children — has again increased. This surge was predicted a year ago by Chris Cabrera, a spokesperson for the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC).

This latest increase was noted by law enforcement officials in Yuma County, Arizona. A June 6 report posted by Arizona Public Media (AZPM) noted:

Refugees from Central America are pouring into the United States, a trend from 2014 that seems to be resurfacing along the U.S.-Mexican border this year. Many of them are children, sent on the long journey alone.

The Border Patrol, immigration courts and refugee workers were overwhelmed the last time it occurred, in 2014. Border officials have asked for more resources this time out.

This time around, it appears that many illegal border crossers come from places beyond Latin America.

“They’re not what you would consider a typical border crosser,” Yuma Sheriff’s Department Captain Eben Bratcher told AZPM. “Many of these people are from other nations, other than Mexico. Central America, Chinese. Romanians are a big one right now, and so that’s kind of a change in what we’ve come to expect here,” Bratcher continued.

The AZPM reported recalled that in 2014 migrants from Central America flooded the U.S. border, mostly in Texas. By April of that year, 28,000 unaccompanied children had been counted among the illegal border crossers. While that number declined by one half last year, U.S. officials have reported that the surge is already back to 2014 levels with more than 27,000 unaccompanied children being apprehended.

The New American heavily covered the 2014 border crisis. In one article from two years ago, we described two things that distinguished that year’s surge in illegal alien traffic from earlier illegal immigration waves. First, Hondurans, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans made up about 75 percent of the illegal aliens caught in South Texas, whereas previously most people who crossed the border illegally originated in Mexico. Second, large numbers of these illegal migrants were unaccompanied children.

In a June 10, 2014 article, we explored the notable changes in the nature of the migration — the shift from Mexico to Central America and the marked increase in unaccompanied children. We made the following observation:

A question that we have seen no one raise, much less answer, is how these thousands of children from poor areas of Central America manage to find their way — en masse — about 1,800 miles through Mexico’s rough roads to arrive in south Texas. While we cannot determine who is coordinating and assisting with their efforts, it is obvious that these children did not accomplish this Herculean feat all on their own.

The day after we posted that article, the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) released a statement that utilized refreshing logic in pointing out what should be obvious to almost anyone wondering how tens of thousands of unaccompanied children could travel 1,800 miles on their own to a common destination:

This is not a humanitarian crisis. It is a predictable, orchestrated and contrived assault on the compassionate side of Americans by her political leaders that knowingly puts minor Illegal Alien children at risk for purely political purposes. Certainly, we are not gullible enough to believe that thousands of unaccompanied minor Central American children came to America without the encouragement, aid and assistance of the United States Government. Anyone that has taken two six to seven year old children to an amusement park can only imagine the problems associated with bringing thousands of unaccompanied children that age up through Mexico and into the United States. I doubt even the Cartels would undertake that chore at any price. No, it has to be heartless corrupt politicians and their minions lusting for more money and power.

As part of our research, we spoke with Andy Ramirez, a recognized national expert on border security who has testified before Congress, the California state legislature, the DHS and the DOJ. Considering both the large numbers of unaccompanied children and the long distances involved, Ramirez stated bluntly: “There is no way this could have been done by an alien smuggling organization [ASO]. It had to have been done at a much higher level.”

Further along in the interview, Ramiriez told us that considering the Obama administration’s refusal to enforce U.S. immigration law, he believed, “it’s clear in connecting the dots that the Obama administration and [the] Mexican government are co-partners.”

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who also charged that the crisis was a “direct consequence” of President Obama’s policies, said in an interview with Breitbart News at the time: “The parents think, ‘If I send my child [to the U.S.], my child will have amnesty.’ That’s what the president of the U.S. has said. It is the exact opposite of a humane approach to immigration or to securing our borders.”

A June 6 report posted by Fronteras (a collaborative project among public radio stations in the southwestern United States) noted, “Refugees from Central America are pouring into the United States, a trend from 2014 that seems to be growing along the U.S.-Mexico border again this year. Many of them are children, sent on the long journey alone.”

The report noted a phenomenon we have also reported on in the past: people trying to cross the border and trying to get caught. In our June 13, 2014 article, we cited a then-recent Washington Post report stating that many of the illegal border crossers — especially women and children — were not trying to sneak into the country but were crossing the border in plain sight of Border Patrol agents. We then explained the reason for that behavior:

While illegal aliens from Mexico can fairly quickly be processed and sent back across the border, the situation for illegals from Central America is more complicated. The government must first clear their return with consular officials from their native country, then charter planes to fly them home. If the aliens request asylum in the United States, on the grounds that they fear persecution in their home countries, they must establish that their fears are credible.

Whether or not asylum is ultimately granted, the claim serves as a delaying tactic, often allowing the alien to remain in the United States long enough to blend in among the large numbers of “undocumented aliens.”

As we noted, the numbers of migrants coming across our borders are again swelling. A May 31 report from NPR stated: “Immigrants fleeing gang violence in Central America are again surging across the U.S.-Mexico border, approaching the numbers that created an immigration crisis in the summer of 2014.”

Homeland Security (the parent government department of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. Border Patrol) claims that it has taken measure to bring the illegal immigration wave under control. Recently, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson traveled to Central America, where he said, “I am here today to send a message that our borders in the United States are not open to irregular migration.”

The grandstanding has not stemmed the flow, however.

In May, National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd testified at a congressional hearing, where he noted that our country is not effectively detaining illegal aliens: “What happens is if you are arrested in the United States and you ask for any sort of asylum, what we do is we will process you, and we will walk you right out our front door, give you a pat on the back and say, ‘Welcome to the United States.’ And they’re good to go.”

The NPR report also quoted Chris Cabrera, who is a Border Patrol officer and union official in south Texas. Cabrera said all the families surrendering to seek asylum are distracting his member agents, who should, instead, be chasing drug and human traffickers

“Our agents are so caught up with rounding up the ones that are turning themselves in, corralling them and getting them to the station, that we don’t have adequate resources to get the ones that are trying to get away,” Cabrera said.

Cabrera predicted the rise in illegal border crossings in a statement he made to o Breitbart Texas, almost exactly one year ago. We reported about Cabrera’s prediction in our article last June:

[Cabrera ] said that in the past few weeks, the numbers of unaccompanied minors and incomplete family units have been rapidly increasing. “This is starting to resemble the summer border surge of 2014”.… “We are not nearly at the numbers we were last year, but it looks like we are in the opening stages. We had two groups equal a little over 70 in one hour today. These were women and children,” Cabrera continued. “We’ve also seen a lot of children traveling alone.”

In that interview, Cabrera also observed a phenomenon that we reported on during 2014’s surge — instead of hiding from Border Patrol agents to sneak into the country, as illegal aliens have traditionally done, many of the children and women who have crossed the border illegally have been seeking out Border Patrol agents and turning themselves in.

“This is really the mark that indicates a coming crisis,” said Cabrera. “When the women and children start seeking out agents, we know there is word spreading in their home countries that they can come and be set free.”

Cabrera was not able to predict this latest surge because of any special gifts of prophecy he possesses, but simply because he represents the Border Patrol agents on the front lines who can see for themselves on a daily basis what is happening. And that is this: Our nation’s immigration and border control policies encourage illegal migration, instead of deterring it. Until those policies are changed, the migration crisis will continue unabated.