Latest news with #OfficeOfRefugeeResettlement
The Independent
18-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
A 15-year-old boy with no criminal history ended up at Alligator Alcatraz after rush to fill facility
Authorities detained a 15-year-old boy without a criminal record at Alligator Alcatraz amid the haste to fill up the Florida facility, according to reports. As the state scrambled to open the controversial detention center, Alexis, the teenager, seems to have been caught up in the mix. On July 1, three days before the facility officially opened, Florida Highway Patrol stopped a vehicle packed with Alexis and his friends before handing him over to federal authorities, the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times first reported. Alexis endured three days in the rapidly built facility consisting of tents and chain-link pens, his father told the Tampa Bay Times. The Florida Division of Emergency Management, which oversees the facility, admitted he had been detained, explaining he lied about his age when officers stopped him. 'While at Alligator Alcatraz, an individual disclosed they had misrepresented their age upon arrest to ICE. Immediate action was taken to separate and remove the detainee in accordance with federal protocols,' a spokesperson for the division told The Independent in a statement. 'This is one of many problems with illegal immigration: individuals are in our country without any way to verify their identity.' Three days after he was detained, on July 4, authorities transferred the boy from Alligator Alcatraz to a shelter for migrant children that is operated by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, the Tampa Bay Times reported. State officials told the outlet that Alligator Alcatraz doesn't house minors. It's unclear what steps are being taken to prevent something similar from happening in the future. The Independent has reached out to a spokesperson for the governor's office for more information. The episode captures the chaos around the facility's opening. Alligator Alcatraz, constructed to help accelerate President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, was meant to hold the 'most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet," the president said. As of this week, the facility holds more than 700 people, but only one-third of them have criminal convictions, reports found. 'The case is important to highlight to ensure that there is oversight and safeguards in place because an adult facility is not a place for a child,' immigration attorney Alexandra Manrique Alfonso told the Times. The 15-year-old was handcuffed while being transferred to the facility, Manrique Alfonso said, noting that he had been housed with adults. Ignacio, the teen's father, told the Times that he believes his son told authorities he was an adult when the car was pulled over because he was afraid of being separated from the group if he mentioned his true age: 'It was because of fear.' Ignacio only learned his son was detained after one of the teen's friends called from the facility — three days later. Alexis later called his father, who told him to come clean to officials that he was a minor. Ignacio then sent a photo of Alexis' birth certificate via text and told his son to ask for permission to use his phone to prove his age; he was transferred after they confirmed his age, the outlet reported. Now, Ignacio is trying to reunite with Alexis. He's even taking a paternity test. 'It is very sad that a lot of families are being separated,' he told the outlet. The father came to the U.S. in 2018 after fleeing his hometown of Chiapas, Mexico due to violence; his son followed him to Florida two years later, the outlet reported. 'When you're apart from your kids, you miss them. If you don't see them, you feel their absence,' the father told the Times. 'I am pleading with God that we can be reunited.'
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Threats to immigrant children are a threat to Michigan
A Cuban mother and daughter watch the sunrise while waiting to be being taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border on December 07, 2021 in Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by) Michigan's future relies on the resilience and resourcefulness of its children. But with net population decline projected by 2050 and sub-par educational outcomes among Michigan children, we need to be serious about creating a state where kids can get ahead. Immigrant families are critical to our state reaching its full potential. In the past decade, immigrants have accounted for nearly 60% of the state's population growth, while contributing billions in state revenue and economic activity. Yet a new swath of regulations, largely aimed to deter immigration, could do irreparable harm to many of our state's youngest and most vulnerable residents. In recent years, a surge of Unaccompanied Children (UCs) has crossed the southern border, entering Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) custody. These minors flee extreme circumstances where migration becomes an option of last resort. Michigan nonprofits serve children who made deadly journeys to earn money for their mothers' cancer treatments or escape coercive recruitment into criminal enterprises. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The Trump administration has characterized these vulnerable children — 67% of whom are aged 16 or younger — as a national security threat, directing ICE to specifically target them for deportation. A multi-agency review of 450,000 unaccompanied minors is underway, enabled by revoking the DHS sensitive locations policy that previously protected schools, churches and hospitals from immigration raids. In February, ICE began conducting 'wellness checks' on immigrant children at schools — what the Young Center calls 'a pretext to locate, interrogate and deport children and families.' A new plan proposes mobilizing 21,000 National Guard troops to round up UCs. The administration also targets children by attacking the adults they rely on. After arrival, UCs transfer to ORR custody for shelter and basic necessities. Most unaccompanied children are then released to the custody of a sponsor, usually a close family member, until their legal status is adjudicated. However, new policy changes enable ICE to obtain the legal status of sponsors from ORR, putting undocumented sponsors at deportation risk. Central to this campaign is terminating the Flores Settlement Agreement — the backbone of child protections requiring the provision of food, water, clean clothing and medical care in government custody. While courts have historically upheld the Flores Settlement Agreement, successfully overturning it would enable indefinite detention of children in prison-like conditions. Already, new Trump administration rules requiring stringent sponsor identification verification now keep children in shelters an average 217 days before family release — up dramatically from previous timelines. On top of this, a proposed budget reconciliation fine could charge sponsors up to $8,500 per child, while other provisions impose $1,000 asylum application fees and $500 Special Immigrant Visa fees — visas UCs often need when aging out at 18. These barriers create pay-to-play systems, effectively holding children ransom from families. Funding cuts are eliminating vital services. The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC), the state's primary legal provider for unaccompanied minors, supporting 800 children, faced a March stop-work order cutting legal funding and forcing 72 layoffs. This leaves young children — including toddlers — to navigate the U.S. legal system alone. Budget reconciliation threatens additional vital benefits for children. The proposed Child Tax Credit changes would require both parents to have Social Security numbers to qualify, potentially denying the $2,000 credit to 4.5 million American citizen children under age 17 based solely on their parents' immigration status. Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) could affect 400,000 legal refugees and asylum recipients, while broader benefit reductions threaten extended family support systems that children depend upon. When parents face deportation or detention, children experience toxic stress, which impairs brain development and increases risks of chronic mental health conditions, including depression and PTSD, plus physical conditions like cancer, stroke, diabetes and heart disease. Research shows most children experience at least four adverse behavioral changes following immigration-related parental arrests — such as chronic fear and disrupted eating and sleeping patterns. These trauma responses directly undermine educational achievement and workforce preparation at a time when immigrants account for nearly 60% of Michigan's population growth over the past decade. The cumulative effect could devastate Michigan families. With 300,000 Michigan children living in immigrant families — including 70,000 high schoolers representing 15% of the state's high school population — Michigan's economic future depends on these families' stability. Michigan teachers and superintendents already report declining attendance among immigrant children, imperiling long-term development while families rush to create guardianships fearing deportations. By destabilizing families representing such a significant portion of Michigan's emerging workforce, these enforcement policies risk creating a traumatized generation while threatening the state's economic growth and development goals. The Michigan League for Public Policy and our partners are working to make sure all kids have a chance to grow up strong and healthy in our state. We can't risk Michigan's future, or the lives of thousands of innocent kids who are looking for opportunity and family reunification, with shortsighted and harmful restrictions like these.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump to Bring White South Africans as Refugees to U.S. While Cutting Everyone Else Out
Amid a widespread crackdown on immigration and refugee programs, the Trump administration is slated to bring white South Africans to the U.S. as refugees on Monday, multiple news outlets reported. They will now have a pathway to American citizenship. The move is the first in a 'much larger-scale relocation effort,' White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told reporters on Friday. The Trump administration suspended the refugee resettlement program on his first day in office for his second term and froze funding for resettlement agencies. In Uganda, as one example, these cuts mean that food rations for a million people have been cut off. 'What's happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created,' Miller said. 'This is race-based persecution. The refugee program is not intended as a solution for global poverty — and historically, it has been used that way.' The Lever first reported the news that white South Africans could be admitted to the U.S. as refugees. The U.S. will give about 50 white South Africans help with housing, groceries, and other needs, according to a document reviewed by the Associated Press. The Trump administration could admit as many as 1,000 Afrikaners this year. They will be receiving emergency support from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. In February, the Trump administration issued an executive order that the U.S. would 'promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination.' The White House also released an executive order saying the U.S. would only admit refugees who 'can fully and appropriately assimilate.' Elon Musk, the head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, was born in South Africa. He has said in a post on X that a political group is promoting a 'white genocide' in the country, a claim that has been widely denied. 'Far-right-wing groups in South Africa actively go to America and promulgate this idea of a white genocide because, of course, when you have a high murder rate, white people do get murdered,' Gareth Newham, head of the justice and violence prevention program at the Institute of Security Studies in South Africa told NBC News in February. White people are likely targeted because they are relatively wealthy, he said. At the root of the Trump administration's claims is South Africa's recent expropriation law that allows the government to seize land under certain circumstances. Thirty years after the end of Apartheid, about seven percent of South Africans are white — mainly descendants of Dutch settlers — but they own almost three quarters of the land. So far, no land has been seized. The government of South Africa released a statement Friday saying that the idea that Afrikaners are discriminated against is 'unfounded.' 'It is most regrettable that it appears that the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being 'refugees' is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa's constitutional democracy; a country which has in fact suffered true persecution under Apartheid rule and has worked tirelessly to prevent such levels of discrimination from ever occurring again,' said Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation. It can often take years to get approval to come to the U.S. as a refugee, but the Afrikaners only had to wait a few months. The status of other refugees is in limbo. Last Monday, a judge ordered the Trump administration to admit 12,000 refugees who had previously been blocked from entering the country. 'We are profoundly disturbed that the administration has slammed the door in the face of thousands of other refugees approved by [the Department of Homeland Security] months ago, notwithstanding courts ordering the White House to let many of them in,' Mark Hetfield, the president of HIAS, a Jewish humanitarian aid society, said in a statement. 'That's just not right.' More from Rolling Stone Trump Admin Accuses Dem of 'Assaulting an ICE Agent' at Newark Detention Center Trump Takes Credit for India, Pakistan Cease-Fire as Fighting Continues U.K. Activists Stage Mock Funeral for 1.5°C Climate Target Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
Associated Press
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Suit challenges new rules on children in federal custody who crossed into US
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Two advocacy groups for migrants filed a federal lawsuit Thursday asking the courts to halt new Trump Administration vetting procedures for reuniting children who crossed into the U.S. without their parents, saying the changes are keeping families separated longer and are inhumane. The lawsuit was filed by the National Center for Youth Law and Democracy Forward in federal court in the District of Columbia. It names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security along with the federal Health and Human Services agency and its Office of Refugee Resettlement and seeks a return to prior reunification procedures. Critics note the government data shows the average time that the children are held in custody before release by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to their sponsors grew from 37 days in January to over 112 days by March. In February, the Trump administration changed the way it reviews sponsors who want to care for migrant children in government custody, whether parents or relatives of the minors -- or others. More changes followed in March and April when the government started to require identification or proof of income that only those legally present in the U.S. could acquire. Advocates for the families affected are asking a judge to declare the changes unlawful and return the agency to the policies in place before that. 'The government has dramatically increased the burden on families in a way that deeply undermines children's safety. These policy changes are part of a broader unraveling of a bi-partisan, decades-long commitment to support the best interests of unaccompanied children,' said Neha Desai, a managing director at National Center for Youth Law. Attorneys said they had heard from families who were moments away from receiving their children back when the rules were abruptly changed. Now, many say they are left waiting indefinitely. 'The administration has reversed years of established children's welfare protections and replaced them with fear, prolonged detention, and bureaucratic cruelty,' said Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward in a statement. One Mexican woman who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of fears of deportation said she and her 8-year-old son were led to believe repeatedly that they would be reunited, only to find out the new policy changes would derail their plans. The mother, who arrived first across the border from Mexico, has noticed her son lose hope over the last 11 months, even refusing to unpack after the last time he thought his release from a government-run shelter was imminent. 'He's seen so many children who have come, leave, and he's stayed behind,' said the mother, who wasn't part of the lawsuit. The Trump administration says it is increasing scrutiny of parents and other sponsors before giving them custody of their children who have crossed the border as unaccompanied minors. DHS and HHS did not immediately respond to emails from AP seeking comment in response to the lawsuit filed Thursday afternoon. Similar restrictions were imposed in 2018 under Trump's first presidency during the rollout of a zero-tolerance policy that separated families and required fingerprinting for all members of a household receiving a child. The administration scaled back the requirements after custody times increased.
