The Obama administration is preparing to house over 5,000 undocumented children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border last month, mainly in search of refuge from a spike of violence taking place in Central America.
While much of presidential hopeful Donald Trump's immigration rhetoric focuses on "dangerous" and "illegal" Mexican immigrants and "anchor babies," fewer "birthright" children have been born to U.S.-dwelling undocumented immigrants. Meanwhile, Chinese undocumented immigrants now surpass Mexican documented immigrants regarding the number of new immigrants in the U.S.
New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito is expected to make an announcement Monday highlighting the success of a city initiative that provides undocumented children in NYC with free legal representation and protection from deportation.
Latin American residents stated they feel less safe in their region compared to other regions worldwide. Latin American security concerns could result in an increase of undocumented immigrants migrating north to the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Education reaffirmed its position of welcoming new immigrant children to the classrooms. Based on data from the DOE, more than 840,000 immigrant students were in the U.S., with over 4.6 million learning English.
U.S. Latinos are divided on how to address the influx of undocumented Central American children entering the country, but a majority gave low marks to President Barack Obama's handling of the issue.
