It’s a simple trap. You set the bait, let’s say an unaccompanied child who illegally crossed the border and has been in a shelter for a month or two. You then wait for someone who cares for that child to step up and claim them. If that person is in the country illegally — snap! — one less immigrant roaming the streets. Easy-peasy.
CNN reported last week that what had been considered a likely but unproven scenario has already happened. Dozens of people have been arrested for being in the country illegally after they gave their information as part of the process of sponsoring an immigrant child in government custody. These people could be a child’s parent, a family member or even a member of the household where the prospective sponsor lives; the government did not specify.
The vetting itself, which was standard policy during the previous administration, is important so children don’t go to homes where they may be in danger. In fact, out of the 41 people arrested this year from July through September, 12 were criminal arrests. But under President Trump, that’s no longer enough. Now, any information given to Health and Human Services, which is in charge of the unaccompanied minors, is also being shared with immigration enforcement.
You may ask: Why is this a problem? After all, it’s the kind of thing that makes sense. If you follow the law then you must arrest people who are in the country illegally. Only under open-borders liberal Obama would the government be dumb enough not to detain an immigrant who’s telling you they’re here when they shouldn’t.
But dealing with immigration is not so simple — and if you think it is, there’s a nice bridge I can sell you (it’ll go great with that border wall you’ve bought into).
The threat alone — now a confirmed fact — of the Trump administration using vetting information against immigrants has already caused more unaccompanied minors to remain in shelters longer, as potential sponsors weigh the risk involved in coming forward. This has led to almost 13,000 children in migrant shelters even as the number of kids crossing the border alone has remained steady.
When you look at it from a financial perspective, it makes no sense to keep these children in custody any longer than needed. Taxpayers already shell out more than a billion dollars a year on private contractor-run migrant shelters. That’s a deal compared to what it costs when the government’s involved. Temporary shelters, such as the one outside El Paso cost about $750 per child per day. That’s the shelter the administration now hopes to expand to house up to 3,800. My math’s rusty, but at capacity that’s $2.8 million a day.
To pay for all of this the administration is taking money from other programs, including $16.7 million from Head Start, $5.7 million from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, and $13.3 million from the National Cancer Institute, Yahoo News reported.
Then there’s the unquantifiable. Although many shelters are full of caring staff, the more time children spend in custody the more time there is for something to go wrong — and any vulnerable population attracts predators. Already, the reports of children being physically or sexually abused in shelters are appalling. And even when everything works as intended, the deleterious effects of detention cannot be brushed aside.
All that so the administration can arrest a few immigrants. Easy-peasy.
