As with all things related to illegal migration, the number of unaccompanied children (UACs) in the US is anybody’s guess. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) of the Health and Human Services Department puts the number at about 100,000. These are persons under the age of 18 who have illegally crossed into the United States unaccompanied by parents, who typically have stayed behind in their home countries.
Now, the Trump administration is attempting to reunite those UACs with their families, and, as usual, the courts are doing all they can to prevent it. Currently, about 600 UACs are being housed in shelters, awaiting flights home. On Sunday, August 31, 10 such children, ages 10 to 17, had already boarded a plane headed to Guatemala, when a district judge insisted that they be removed and returned to their government shelter. The judge, a Biden appointee and a native of Trinidad and Tobago with the unlikely name of Sparkle Sooknanan, issued a 14-day hold on their repatriation.
The move on the part of the judge was opposed not only by the White House but the government of Guatemala, which had previously agreed to accept up to 150 Guatemalan children per week. The DOJ says all of the families had requested, through the Guatemalan government, their children’s return. Instead, as is the rule nowadays, a rogue judge is standing in the way and insisting the children remain isolated from their families in government shelters.
For more, see Reuters.