Thread: Young invaders use sob story to scam system

Foster care a way in for illegal immigrant kids

07:29 AM CDT on Monday, July 23, 2007

Associated Press

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 1ca41.html

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – International Educational Services' strip mall storefront opens up into a complex of cheery offices and classrooms decorated with American flags.

Open a classroom door, and dozens of smiling children look up from their workbooks for a heavily accented group "good morning."

The children are illegal immigrants. In the afternoon, they will go to foster homes, where they'll live until they can be united with a "sponsor" – a parent, relative or family friend in the United States.

It's a better scenario than they would have faced in the past, when children caught crossing the border were locked up like adults.

But critics say the majority will eventually fade into the nation's illegal immigrant subculture, having gamed the nation's alphabet soup of homeland security and social service agencies.

"This is fraud-prone, and this is an inducement to illegal immigration," said Don Barnett, a fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies who has analyzed the system.

"There's no question that smugglers are totally aware of this program and know how to use it."

A 2001 federal report found that 68 percent of juveniles released to sponsors don't appear in court.

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General continues to use that number, even though it says there are no accurate counts.

Similarly, there are few concrete numbers of the unaccompanied juveniles. Mr. Barnett's organization says about 8,000 juveniles are unaccompanied and about 850 are in shelters every day.

Mr. Barnett found that in some cases, children are turned over to sponsors who aren't relatives because their family members are illegal immigrants who fear being deported if they try to claim their children.

He said smugglers are telling parents to separate from the children once they cross the border.

If the Border Patrol catches the children, they are all but guaranteed to be in a safe, comfortable home within a day or so and placed with a relative or friend within a few weeks or months.

If they were caught together, the family would be detained in a family facility, such as the T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor, Texas. It has been criticized for prison-like conditions.

Children interviewed at the Brownsville facility seemed upbeat, saying they were happy at their temporary homes.

One, a 13-year-old from Honduras, said she thought the journey was fun.

The foster care programs grew out of the 1997 settlement of Flores vs. Reno, a class-action lawsuit against the former Immigration and Naturalization Service. The suit argued that it was wrong for children caught by the Border Patrol to be punished like adults.

Under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which abolished INS and created the Department of Homeland Security, the care and placement of illegal immigrant children was transferred to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide a more humane environment for them. Since January, educational services has received $5 million in federal money for two foster programs as well as for the detention center where teens are housed a few miles away in Los Fresnos, Texas.

Foster parents are reimbursed for the costs of feeding the children and seeing to it that they experience "environment" – which can mean trips to parks and malls. All homes are equipped with cribs for the many teenage girls arriving with babies or in advanced pregnancy. Eventually, the children will be on their way to a relative or the home of a family friend.

"It's up to the sponsors to see that they attend court sessions to see if they can stay or not," said Teresa Brooks, an official with the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Kathleen Walker, a longtime immigration lawyer based in El Paso, said such programs should be embraced for treating children like children rather than prisoners.

She said the government has records of every sponsor and should have no problem following up on cases. "Is the objection here that we want to make sure that children are behind bars and behind concertina wires?"

Look at these excerpts. These little brats think it's fun to break our laws and then plop out anchor babies on our soil.

Originally Posted by NoIllegalsAllowed

One, a 13-year-old from Honduras, said she thought the journey was fun.

The foster care programs grew out of the 1997 settlement of Flores vs. Reno, a class-action lawsuit against the former Immigration and Naturalization Service. The suit argued that it was wrong for children caught by the Border Patrol to be punished like adults.

Under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which abolished INS and created the Department of Homeland Security, the care and placement of illegal immigrant children was transferred to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide a more humane environment for them. Since January, educational services has received $5 million in federal money for two foster programs as well as for the detention center where teens are housed a few miles away in Los Fresnos, Texas.

Foster parents are reimbursed for the costs of feeding the children and seeing to it that they experience "environment" – which can mean trips to parks and malls. All homes are equipped with cribs for the many teenage girls arriving with babies or in advanced pregnancy. Eventually, the children will be on their way to a relative or the home of a family friend.

"This is fraud-prone, and this is an inducement to illegal immigration," said Don Barnett, a fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies who has analyzed the system.

"There's no question that smugglers are totally aware of this program and know how to use it."

A 2001 federal report found that 68 percent of juveniles released to sponsors don't appear in court.

All homes are equipped with cribs for the many teenage girls arriving with babies or in advanced pregnancy.

What's going to happen when all these millions of babies grow-up and the millions more following them everyday. Are these women never NOT pregnant?

Originally Posted by gofer

All homes are equipped with cribs for the many teenage girls arriving with babies or in advanced pregnancy.

What's going to happen when all these millions of babies grow-up and the millions more following them everyday. Are these women never NOT pregnant?

From what I see, if they're in the age range to be pregnant they're always pregnant. It's common to see illegal women with 2 kids walking next to her and one in a stroller and another on the way.

And don't forget you have the catholic church saying that use of contraception is a sin and to keep reproducing (at taxpayer expense of course). But violating a country's immigration laws, committing identity theft, and ripping of honest taxpayers is just fine.

This argument that we are responsible for these children in any way is ridiculous. I am sick and tired of FOREIGN POWERS directing our policy and legislation, i.e Mexico & the Catholic Church both of whom Kennedy supports. The Catholic Church intends to try to turn this country majority Catholic, and the Mexican government wants North American Union very badly, as well as Bush, Kennedy, and most Democrats.

It is a violation of our Consitution, which DHS seems more than happy to ignore. These people are our enemies because of the threat of NAU whether they are aware of it or not. They trully are INVADERS COMPLETE WITH THEIR OWN ARMY, THE MS-13 AND OTHERS.

WE MUST GET THEM OUT NOW, OR THIS COUNTRY WILL TURN INTO A 3RD WORLD PIECE OF CRAP AS WE SEE ALREADY BEGINNING TO HAPPEN WITH THE DRAMATIC INCREASE IN CRIME, WELFARE STATE, CLOSING OF HOSPITALS, OVER-CROWDED SCHOOLS, COLLAPSE OF OUR WAGE STRUCTURE, AND MOST RECENTLY 'CAPITAL FLIGHT', AND ON AND ON.

Originally Posted by blackdaysahead

This argument that we are responsible for these children in any way is ridiculous. I am sick and tired of FOREIGN POWERS directing our policy and legislation, i.e Mexico & the Catholic Church both of whom Kennedy supports. The Catholic Church intends to try to turn this country majority Catholic, and the Mexican government wants North American Union very badly, as well as Bush, Kennedy, and most Democrats.

It is a violation of our Consitution, which DHS seems more than happy to ignore. These people are our enemies because of the threat of NAU whether they are aware of it or not. They trully are INVADERS COMPLETE WITH THEIR OWN ARMY, THE MS-13 AND OTHERS.

WE MUST GET THEM OUT NOW, OR THIS COUNTRY WILL TURN INTO A 3RD WORLD PIECE OF CRAP AS WE SEE ALREADY BEGINNING TO HAPPEN WITH THE DRAMATIC INCREASE IN CRIME, WELFARE STATE, CLOSING OF HOSPITALS, OVER-CROWDED SCHOOLS, COLLAPSE OF OUR WAGE STRUCTURE, AND MOST RECENTLY 'CAPITAL FLIGHT', AND ON AND ON.

I'm sick of having to financially support this lawlessness through tax dollars. Did you know last year Congress gave la raza 15 million dollars?

I don't want to live under mexican rule, I don't want to speak spanish, I don't want to live under vatican rule, I don't want our cities to be filled with gangs, I don't want to be systematically discriminated against for not being some type of minority, I don't want to pay for illegals to have 20 kids, I don't want the American culture to be destroyed. But yet I'm the one who's unreasonable?

I don't mean to be mean......but I find it hard to think a kid is tied to a parent who has 22 adults living like sardines in an apartment as "family values". Just coz you have kids doesn't make you a parent....and just coz you're related....doesn't make you "family". Every persons name I know or every person I met....doesn't make them a "friend".