Since June 30, 273 unaccompanied alien children (UAC) have been placed in the shelter operated by Southwest Key. This shelter has a capacity of 283 beds, according to memo issued on Friday by Dr. Francisco Garcia, Director, of the Pima County Health Department.
That shelter is located at Miracle Mile and Drachman and is reportedly licensed by the Arizona Department of Health Services as a residential behavioral facility.
Dr. Garcia states that the information in his memo was “provided by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Health and Human Services, and the Arizona Department of Health Services.
However, according to sources working with the Office of Border Health, Arizona health officials have been unable to communicate with federal officials in any meaningful way. Nor are the federal agencies communicating with each other, sources are reporting.
According to sources, there is virtually no health screening of any real public health value done on the UACs.
Supervisor Ally Miller’s office was told the Arizona Department of Health has not toured the facility in Nogales and has only had “peripheral oversight.” There is no free flow of information among federal agencies involved or with state and local officials, which is leading to concerns with healthcare workers, who say that the lack of information harms the public.
As a result, no one can independently confirm the process employed by federal agencies through which UACs pass before they settle in Pima County, or other Arizona counties, who are reportedly expected to receive UACs this week, according to sources.
In his memo, Dr. Garcia states that the UACs are all medically cleared before they are “transported to one of approximately 100 shelter facilities across the county,” while individuals traveling in family units “undergo a brief health screening by trained CBP personnel to assess for acute medical needs and to evaluate fitness for travel.”
Garcia writes, “Individuals with acute medical needs are transported to healthcare facilities for further evaluation and treatment. Some family units are subsequently released for reunification with their own U.S.-based families pending legal proceedings. Most of these families are in our locality for no more than a day or two, the final destinations for the vast majority of these individuals are the large metropolitan areas on both coasts that are the home of significant Central American populations.”
“Last month, the number of families in transit increased due to the processing of additional detainees from the Rio Grande Valley. This is no longer the case, and those family units apprehended in Texas are being relocated to a federal facility in Artesia, New Mexico,” writes Garcia. “The total number of apprehensions of Central American individuals travelling in family units for the entire state of Arizona is down to 200 per week, with no more than 30 to 40 making their way through Pima County.”
Pinal County residents have been told that UACs will be moved to a facility in Oracle this week. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu was alerted by federal authorities and has detailed thirty of his deputies to the site beginning early Tuesday morning.
In his memo, Dr. Garcia provides a copy of the report issued by the Congressional Research Service, entitled, Unaccompanied Alien Children: An Overview. Report highlights:
The number of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) arriving in the United States has reached alarming numbers that has strain the system put in place over the past decade to handle such cases. UAC are defined in statute as children who lack lawful immigration status in the United States, who are under the age of 18, and who are without a parent or legal guardian in the United States or no parent or legal guardian in the United States is available to provide care and physical custody. Two statutes and a legal settlement most directly affect U.S. policy for the treatment and administrative processing of UAC: the Flores Settlement Agreement of 1997; the Homeland Security Act of 2002; and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA) requires that children from contiguous countries be screened within 48 hours of being apprehended to determine whether they should be returned to their country or transferred to HHS and placed in removal proceedings.
However a different path lays ahead for Unaccompanied Alien Children from countries other than Mexico or Canada—along with UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN from those countries who are apprehended away from the border—are to be transferred to the care and custody of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and placed in formal removal proceedings, which if the country of origin elects they can refuse to accept the children.
The following are the general responsibilities of the Government agencies involved in the process:
• Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehends, processes, and detains the majority of UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN arrested along U.S. borders.
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) physically transports UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN from CBP to HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (HHS-ORR) custody.
• HHS-ORR is responsible for detaining and sheltering UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN who are from non-contiguous countries and those from contiguous countries (i.e., Canada and Mexico) for whom there is a concern that they may be victims of trafficking or have an asylum claim, while they await an immigration hearing.
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is responsible for the initial adjudication of asylum applications filed by UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN.
• The Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) in the U.S. Department of Justice conducts the immigration proceedings that determine whether the UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN is allowed to remain in the United States or is deported to his or her home country.
If a UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHILD is ordered removed from the United States, ICE is responsible for returning the alien to his/her home country.
ICE is also responsible for the physical removal of all foreign nationals, including UAC, who have final orders of removal or who have elected voluntary departure while in removal proceedings. To safeguard the welfare of all UAC, ICE has established policies for repatriating UAC. The policies include:
• returning the UAC only during daylight hours;
• recording the transfer by making sure that the receiving government official or designee signs for custody;
• returning the UAC through a port designated for repatriation;
• providing the UAC the opportunity to communicate with a consular official prior to departure for the home country; and
• preserving the unity of families during removal.ICE notifies the country of every foreign national being removed from the Unites States. The ability to affect a removal order is dependent on the ability of the U.S. government to secure travel documents for the alien being removed from the country in question. As a result, the United States is dependent on the willingness of foreign governments to accept the return of their nationals. Each country sets documentary requirements for repatriation of their nationals. While some countries allow ICE to use a valid passport to remove an alien (if the alien is in possession of one), other countries require ICE to obtain a travel document specifically for the repatriation. According to one report, the process of obtaining travel documents can become problematic because countries often change their documentary requirements or raise objections to the return of a juvenile.
Once the foreign country has issued travel documents, ICE arranges transport of the Unaccompanied Alien Children and, if flying, accompanies the Unaccompanied Alien Children on the flight to their home country. The majority of ICE’s Unaccompanied Alien Children removals are conducted by commercial airlines. ICE provides two escort officers for each Unaccompanied Alien Child. The Unaccompanied Alien Children Program in ORR/HHS provides for the custody and care of unaccompanied alien minors who have been apprehended by ICE or CBP or referred by other federal agencies. Unaccompanied Alien Children are repatriated in accordance with Local Repatriation Agreements (LRA), which require notification of the Mexican Consulate for each Unaccompanied Alien Child repatriated. Additional specific requirements apply to each LRA (e.g., specific hours of repatriation).
The Unaccompanied Alien Children Program in ORR/HHS provides for the custody and care of unaccompanied alien minors who have been apprehended by ICE or CBP or referred by other federal agencies.
“Once the ORR has screened the Unaccompanied Alien Children to determine if the they have been a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons,” which of course most of them have been because the cartels were paid to deliver them to the U.S., or if there is credible evidence that the minor is at risk should the minor be returned to his or her country of nationality.
The U.S. government is working overtime to create the narrative that the UACs are fleeing from violence, while earlier this month the First lady of Guatemala, while visiting Tucson denied that fact. She claimed that the UACs from her country were coming to the U.S. for economic opportunity. Economic opportunity does not normally qualify as a condition upon which to make a claim to asylum.
According to the report, “The ORR has several options to house and shelter the Unaccompanied Alien Children including the following placement options: (1) a parent; (2) a legal guardian; (3) an adult relative; (4) an adult individual or entity designated by the child’s parent or legal guardian; (5) a licensed program willing to accept legal custody; or (6) an adult or entity approved by ORR,” such as Southwest Key.
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