Department of Homeland Security News: DHS Transfers More Undocumented Immigrant Minors to Arizona Amid Overcrowding in Texas
Waves of undocumented children traveling from Central American countries without their families have been caught attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas and are being transported to Arizona.
On Sunday more than 100 of the underage immigrants were expected to arrive by bus at U.S. detention centers in Phoenix and Tucson after almost 1,000 of the "unaccompanied alien children" were transferred there the week before, CNN reported.
Under the law, the Department of Homeland Security is prohibited from deporting underage immigrants who are not from Canada or Mexico immediately back to their home countries, which have caused an excess of immigrants in the detention centers.
A DHS spokesman said that because of the recent influx of underage immigrants, the facilities in Texas were at or near capacity. As a result, the department has had to transport the hundreds of detainees to Arizona.
Besides unaccompanied minors, undocumented families have been sent to Arizona by the federal government, which stirred controversy among the state's officials, including Gov. Jan Brewer, according to CNN.
"I am disturbed and outraged that President Obama's administration continues to implement this dangerous and inhumane policy, meanwhile neglecting to answer crucial questions our citizens demand and deserve," Brewer wrote in a statement released Friday. "Not only does the federal government have no plant to stop this disgraceful policy; it also has no plan to deal with the endless waves of illegal aliens once they are released here."
She also said that DHS had been "transporting thousands of illegal aliens and releasing them at bus stations in Tucson and Phoenix."
The DHS spokesman said unaccompanied minors attempting to cross the border is not a new issue, but the recent increase is more than likely attributed to worsening economic conditions in Central America, CNN reported.
The department added that Immigration and Customs Enforcement stopped releasing "large family groups" at the Arizona bus stops late last week. However, children under 17 years old will continue to be transferred.
"The situation with the kids are they came by themselves, they have no relatives here, and the consulates can't keep up," the DHS spokesman told CNN. "They're in limbo. There's no one [back home] to deport them to."
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