Thread: Trump administration will fingerprint child migrants' parents, sponsors

Trump administration will fingerprint child migrants' parents

By Yeganeh Torbati
,Reuters•May 29, 2018

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration will soon begin fingerprinting parents claiming custody of children who entered the United States illegally without an adult relative, officials said on Tuesday, prompting criticism that children may be abandoned by those who fear being identified and deported.

Currently, most parents are not required to be fingerprinted to get custody of their children.

U.S. laws and legal precedent limit the time juveniles can be detained, so those caught crossing the border alone are often released to adult sponsors in the United States. The children are then expected to show up to immigration court to fight their deportation cases.

"We're going to more thoroughly vet sponsors," said Steven Wagner, acting assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Administration for Children and Families, in a telephone briefing with reporters. "With DHS' cooperation we will conduct a fingerprint-based background check on every sponsor."

HHS is ultimately responsible for finding housing for migrant children, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) enforces immigration policy. Under a new memorandum, DHS would help HHS fingerprint every individual claiming custody of a child, senior officials said.

A DHS official who declined to be named said they expect implementation in a few weeks.

Immigrant advocates said the new policy would discourage parents from claiming their children.

"This policy will undoubtedly make it more likely that qualified sponsors will hide in the shadows, leaving vulnerable young children to languish in immigration jail," said Rich Leimsider, executive director of the Safe Passage Project, which represents immigrant children in New York, in an email to Reuters.

Wagner, during the briefing, dismissed such concerns.

"If somebody is unwilling to claim their child from custody because they're concerned about their own immigration status, I think that de facto calls into question whether they're an adequate sponsor and whether we should be releasing the child to that person," Wagner said.

In March and April, more than 50,000 people were detained per month trying to cross the southwest border illegally, levels similar to those during the administration of Barack Obama, according to U.S. government figures.

During those two months a total of about 8,400 unaccompanied minors were caught on the southwest border.

Soon after President Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2017, border crossings briefly dropped to record lows before creeping back up again at the end of last year. The increase has frustrated Trump, who has repeatedly called for more action.

A controversy erupted after Wagner testified in April before a Senate committee that the agency in 2016 conducted a limited "safety and well-being" call to around 7,600 children that had been in its care but was unable to locate around 1,500 children and their sponsors.

On Tuesday, Wagner said many children are with people who are in the country illegally and that "there's no reason to believe that anything has happened to those kids."

Currently, all sponsors of unaccompanied children undergo an interview and a background check, and non-parental sponsors undergo fingerprint checks of a Federal Bureau of Investigation database. In special cases, such as when there is a "documented risk" to the safety of the child, parents will undergo fingerprint checks as well, according to the HHS website.

Background checks and interviews may turn up immigration information, which is entered into an HHS web portal, but immigration status is not used to disqualify sponsors. HHS cannot "deny placement" based on immigration status, Wagner said.

From January 2014 to April 2015, 60 percent of unaccompanied children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were released to a parent, about a third were released to other relatives, 8 percent to family friends and less than 1 percent was released to unrelated sponsors, according to a 2018 Government Accountability Office report.

During the Obama administration, officials at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement proposed that anyone claiming custody of unaccompanied alien children be fingerprinted.

HHS officials at the time pushed back, arguing that it would delay family reunions and infringe upon the parent-child relationship.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-adm...224443382.html

Federal officials lose track of nearly 1500 migrant children in US

And whose idiotic idea is this? Don't separate them to begin with, DEPORT THEM ALL AS A SINGLE FAMILY UNIT! DHHS doesn't have a clue, this department shouldn't have a damn thing to do with illegal aliens of any age or type. Call the 82nd Airborne, they know how to get these people out of our country. They got 42,000 people out of New Orleans in 24 hours, they can get these people out of country, all of them in no time. These agencies like DOJ, DHS and DHHS, they're clueless. Get the military resources on this problem, and do it right now, federal emergency illegal alien relocation to home program. Home countries don't like it? Pull all their visas, trade and aid, and eject all their diplomats until they do.

Don't let them in. Fingerprints, DNA taken from all. The person who takes custody should be immediately arrested for allowing a child to make this journey and to come here illegally. They should be told to stay in Mexico and let that country deal with the situation.

President Trump should stop passing the buck, waiting on Congress to act. He can and should use any and all laws while threatening Mexico with whatever will work for border crossings to dry up. Something can be said or done to get them to act. Negotiating NAFTA while this ongoing invasion only grows and continues, rewards Mexico again.

NO SPONSOR'S ON OUR SOIL

SEND THEM BACK AND LET THEIR COUNTRY "SPONSOR" THEM!!!

GET THEM OUT OF OUR COUNTRY, OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS, OUT OF OUR MEDICAL CARE FACILIES AND OUT OF DETENTION DIRECTLY INTO THE CARE AND CUSTODY OF THEIR PRESIDENT!

SHIP THEM OUT AS FAST AS POSSIBLE! STOP THEM COMING HERE!

NOBODY SHOULD "CLAIM" THESE CHILDREN BUT THEIR PRESIDENT!!!

DAMN ALL YOU!!!

Immigrant advocates said the new policy would discourage parents from claiming their children.

"This policy will undoubtedly make it more likely that qualified sponsors will hide in the shadows, leaving vulnerable young children to languish in immigration jail," said Rich Leimsider, executive director of the Safe Passage Project, which represents immigrant children in New York, in an email to Reuters.

Seems to me the actual intent of the new policy is to deter illegal aliens already here from having their illegal alien children smuggled to them by coyotes. You're a lot less likely to have your child smuggled over the border when you know you can't take custody of him or her. Sounds like a good policy to me and will definitely give pause to illegals considering having their children smuggled across the border in hopes of family unification.

I see this as a correction of the previously weak policy that allowed the illegal minors from joining their illegal alien parents or relatives already here. Nope, it doesn't fix everything but it's a step in the right direction to deterrence for those minors crossing the borders by themselves or with smugglers.

And what if they fingerprint a "sponsor" who is legal and LIES and hands the kid over to the illegal parent? That is exactly what is going to happen. A "legal" family member will take the kid...then hand it over to their "illegal" family member!


AND HOW MUCH IS THE DAMN GOVERNMENT GIVING THESE "SPONSORS" IN MONTHLY BENEFITS AND MONEY????

JUST SEND THEM ALL BACK TO THEIR COUNTRY

WE DO NOT WANT TO PAY FOR THEIR FOOD, SCHOOL OR MEDICAL CARE!!!

THEIR "SPONSOR" IS NOT GOING TO PAY 100% COSTS OF THAT CHILD AND TAXPAYERS DO NOT WANT TO PAY ONE DIME FOR THEM!

ANOTHER CAN OF WORMS FOR PEOPLE WE HAVE NO RESPONSIBILITY TO TAKE CARE OF! GET THEM OUT!

NOW THEY ARE GOING TO SHOVE 1,000'S MORE OVER THE BORDER AND SCAM THIS STUPID SYSTEM

FINGERPRINT AND DEPORT THEM ALL

Beezer wrote (excerpt):

And what if they fingerprint a "sponsor" who is legal and LIES and hands the kid over to the illegal parent? That is exactly what is going to happen. A "legal" family member will take the kid...then hand it over to their "illegal" family member!

Wouldn't it be nice if we could get our politicians to cover every single contingency? Perhaps you could with laws, but policies are different because, unless you're Obama, your limited by the constraints of actual law. Like I said, this isn't a fix-all, but it is another deterrence I welcome.

Oh, and I can't see a lot of U.S. citizens or legal immigrants wanting to risk prison or deportation. That's what they would be doing if they took legal custody of an illegal minor. What happens when the feds come a checking?

U.S. CITIZENS RISK PRISON BY SMUGGLING ILLEGAL ALIENS...EVEN OUR MILITARY MEMBERS WERE CAUGHT DOING IT

FINGERPRINT THEM AND DEPORT THEM OUT OF HERE!!!

NO MORE LOOPHOLES TO STAY!

Immigrant advocates said the new policy would discourage parents from claiming their children.

Then we deport there children back to there home countries