DACA: Strengthening the Magnet That Attracts Illegal Immigration
CNSNews reported March 5 that the number of apprehended unaccompanied illegal alien minors has skyrocketed from 6,560 in fiscal year 2001 to 24,668 in fiscal year 2013. Further, it notes that the Department of Homeland Security is projecting that the total could soar to 60,000 in the current fiscal year.The U.S. government agency put in charge of handling these illegal alien minors, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), is holding meetings to try to figure out why this surge is happening, according to the news story. The only tentative explanation offered is that it may relate to the high level of violence in Central America where most of these youth come from.It apparently has not occurred to the Obama administration that its unilateral – and legally questionable – declaration of the limited amnesty policy of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) might explain the surge. The 2012 announcement that illegal aliens up to age 30 could get work permits and protection against deportation sent a clear message of ‘y’all come’. That message was reinforced by the U.S. Senate’s adoption in 2013 of amnesty legislation with the backing of the administration.Advocates of the DACA program assert that it is based on the principle that children should not be made to suffer from the actions of their parents. But, the DACA criteria do not distinguish between a minor brought illegally into the country by a parent and one who comes into the U.S. on his or her own looking to take a job. The ACF office explains its statistical reports for unaccompanied alien children applies to those illegal alien youth who have “… no parent or legal guardian in the United States, or no parent or legal guardian in the United States available to provide care and physical custody.”