According to new numbers from the Department of Homeland Security, the number of migrant children apprehended on the Southern border dropped from 10,000 in May and June to 5,500 in July.
Politico reported:
Nearly 63,000 unaccompanied migrant children have been apprehended at the Southern border since October, but the number of minors caught trying to cross into the United States illegally dropped dramatically in July, the Obama administration said Thursday.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
The surge of children traveling alone to the United States — primarily from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — this year forced President Barack Obama to declare a humanitarian crisis and seek $3.7 billion in additional money from Congress to respond.
But that influx slowed down considerably last month, according to statistics released Thursday from the Department of Homeland Security. In July, 5,508 unaccompanied children were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border. That compares to the more than 10,000 minors who were caught in both May and June.
What changed between June and July was that the Obama administration began a push to get the message to these Central American countries that the children would not be able to stay in the United States. Last month was the first time since the crisis began that the number of children arriving at the border dropped.
This change had nothing to with Congress, which has been unable to agree on legislation to address the crisis. It is all about the Obama administration getting the message to the people in these countries that the journey is dangerous, and their children can’t stay unless they qualify for humanitarian relief.
The Republican charges that the president was doing nothing about the crisis and that nothing short of militarization of the border would end the flow of immigrants both are turning out to be false. Getting the flow of children to stop is the first part of the process. The next step is to process the kids who have arrived here and figure who is eligible to stay and who must be sent back to their home country.
The president was correct, and race-based Republican border hysteria has been proven wrong.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
