The Department of Homeland Security released its end of Fiscal Year 2016 statistics last week which reflect a 15 percent surge in illegal immigration, which has “impacted ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) removal operations in FY 2016, as illegal entries by Mexicans continued to decrease while illegal entries by Central Americans continued to increase.”
According to the report: “More time, personnel resources, detention capacity, and funding are required to complete the removal process for individuals from non-contiguous countries, as compared to Mexican nationals apprehended at the border, because removals of non-Mexican nationals require ICE to secure travel documents from the host country and to arrange air transportation. Perhaps most significantly, many Central American nationals, including family units and unaccompanied minors, are asserting claims of credible or reasonable fear of persecution. Such cases require additional adjudication, and therefore, take significantly longer to process.”
In FY 2016:
● DHS apprehended 530,250 individuals nationwide and conducted a total of 450,954 removals and returns.
● The U.S. Border Patrol reported 415,816 apprehensions nationwide, compared to 337,117 in FY 2015.
● ICE arrested 114, 434 individuals, compared to 125,211 in FY 2015.
● U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) identified 274,821 inadmissible individuals at ports of entry, compared to 253,509 in FY 2015.
● ICE removed or returned 240,255 individuals in FY 2016, compared to 235,413 in FY 2015.
● In 2016, Central Americans again outnumbered Mexicans in apprehensions on the southern border.
● In FY 2016, the USBP apprehended a total of 59,757 unaccompanied children and 77,857 family units nationwide.
DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson stated, “CBP continues to monitor the arrival of unaccompanied children and family units from Central America and is working closely to support federal interagency efforts to manage these flows and address the underlying factors causing this migration.”
Related article: Unaccompanied Migrant Children Pass Through Shelters To Criminals
However, it is well-known that the cartels and others who make money off of the trafficking of children are encouraging the dangerous trek. It is also widely understood by those who work in the shelters that there is a tremendous financial interest in maintaining the surge.
Massive amounts of money flow into Arizona from the federal government for the care of the unaccompanied minors from the Central American countries. Documents show that the amount of money to Southwest Key, which has set up shelters across the state for the unaccompanied minors, has grown almost exponentially.
State of Arizona Payments to SOUTHWEST KEY PROGRAM INC -Fiscal Years 2009 thru 2017
| Fiscal Year | Department | Tran Type | Amount Paid | % Change |
| 2009 | Education | Expense | ||
| 2010 | Education | Expense | $245,121.68 | 16% |
| 2011 | Education | Expense | $252,972.68 | 3% |
| 2012 | Education | Expense | $349,832.78 | 38% |
| 2013 | Education | Expense | $458,384.60 | 31% |
| 2014 | Education | Expense | $465,297.33 | 2% |
| 2015 | Education | Expense | $627,974.66 | 35% |
| 2016 | Education | Expense | $1,560,078.58 | 148% |
| 2017 | Education | Expense | $951,846.55 | |
| 2017 | Balance Annualized | $1,903,693.10 | 83% | |
| Total | $7,026,298.49 |
In 2014, the ADI reported that documents obtained by a Freedom of Information request, showed that Southwest Key had been awarded over $120 million dollars a year since 2009 for services to UACs.
That tidy sum was on top of what the organization receives for managing their juvenile justice programs across the country.
In January 2016, the ADI reported on whistleblowers, who had come forward with their concerns for the children in the Southwest Key shelters.
Whistleblowers reported that the children in their care were told to mention in their calls to relatives back home that “El Presidente” was welcoming them and that they should consider making the journey.
One whistleblower told the ADI that the cartels aren’t just exploiting kids; they are exploiting Southwest Key as well. “I think three of my cases – I know for a fact – were coyotes. They were traffickers. And they were being handed off,” referring to her Southwest Key clients.
An AP report, showed that trafficking children is a lucrative enterprise, and done in the name of humanitarianism under the cover the government provides, it is not only lucrative – it is legal.
The Southwest Key whistleblowers’ claims that there was little scrutiny of those who received the minors are confirmed in the AP report. The report reads:
“First, the government stopped fingerprinting most adults seeking to claim the children. In April 2014, the agency stopped requiring original copies of birth certificates to prove most sponsors’ identities. The next month, it decided not to complete forms that request sponsors’ personal and identifying information before sending many of the children to sponsors’ homes. Then, it eliminated FBI criminal history checks for many sponsors.
Since the rule changes, the AP has identified more than two dozen children who were placed with sponsors who subjected them to sexual abuse, labor trafficking, or severe abuse and neglect.
According to the AP report, “Advocates say it is hard to gauge the total number of children exposed to dangerous conditions among the more than 89,000 placed with sponsors since October 2013 because social workers could not find many of the migrants designated for follow-up.”
In 2016, Arizona State Representative Bob Thorpe has called for an investigation into the Southwest Key facilities. The Ducey administration was disinterested.