President says FEMA will coordinate response. Advocates say children are fleeing violence and poverty in Central America.
AP Photo/Gregory Bull
President Obama issued a presidential memorandum on Monday that called a huge increase in unaccompanied children crossing the border "an urgent humanitarian situation." Obama also announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will take over leading the response to make sure the children receive housing and proper care.
Children have always made their way north without their parents, but numbers have skyrocketed in recent months. The Obama administration and immigration advocates predict more than 60,000 will cross this year, compared with fewer than ten thousand annually a few years ago.
Advocates say the children are fleeing violence and poverty in Honduras, El Salvador and other Central American countries.
"We must, and we will, address this situation," Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement. He added that his agency will work with a host of other federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, to "ensure a coordinated and rapid government-wide response in the short term and to undertake broader, longer-term reforms to address the root cause behind these recent migration trends."
Last month, overwhelmed by the number of children coming, officials began sheltering young migrants at an air force base near San Antonio.
Kim Haynes, director of children's services as the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, praised Monday's action.
"It's a humanitarian crisis," she said. "It's a fleeing across international borders. This is seen in many other places… Syria, the Congo… this is the same thing. It's occurring on our border."
from BuzzFeed - Breaking http://ift.tt/1iMXGn0
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