Influx of alien kids foretold to officials

2013 report warned about increase

FILE - This June 18, 2014 file photo shows children detainees coloring and drawing at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) processing facility in Brownsville,Texas. From October 2012 through September 2013, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended about 24,000 unaccompanied children. But the number shot up to 57,000 from October 2013 through June 2014. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson testified recently that the number is accelerating so fast that it could reach 90,000 by the end of September. Most of the children are coming from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, Pool)
FILE - This June 18, 2014 file photo shows children detainees coloring and drawing at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) processing facility in Brownsville,Texas. From October 2012 through September 2013, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended about 24,000 unaccompanied children. But the number shot up to 57,000 from October 2013 through June 2014. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson testified recently that the number is accelerating so fast that it could reach 90,000 by the end of September. Most of the children are coming from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, Pool)

WASHINGTON -- Nearly a year before President Barack Obama declared a humanitarian crisis on the border, a team of experts arrived at the Fort Brown patrol station in Brownsville, Texas, and discovered a makeshift transportation depot for a deluge of foreign children.

Thirty Border Patrol agents were assigned in August 2013 to drive the children to off-site showers, wash their clothes and make them sandwiches. As soon as those children were placed in temporary shelters, more arrived. An average of 66 were apprehended each day on the border and more than 24,000 cycled through Texas patrol stations in 2013. In a 41-page report to the Department of Homeland Security, the team from the University of Texas at El Paso raised alarms about the federal government's capacity to manage a situation that was expected to grow worse.

The researchers' observations were among the warning signs conveyed to the Obama administration over the past two years as a surge of Central American minors has crossed into south Texas illegally. More than 57,000 have entered the United States this year, swamping federal resources and catching the government unprepared.

Cecilia Munoz, Obama's domestic policy adviser, said the administration and key agencies had made adjustments over time to deal with the influx of children but then responded with urgency once federal officials realized in May that the numbers would far exceed internal projections of 60,000 minors crossing the border in 2014.

Revised Border Patrol estimates now suggest the number could reach 90,000 by the end of September.

Last month, Obama ordered an emergency response overseen by the National Security Council and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and he asked Congress to approve $3.7 billion in emergency funds.

"What happened this year was ... off-the-charts different," Munoz said. "It was not the same pattern. We assumed a significant increase, but this was not the same kind of trend line.

But top officials at the White House and the State Department had repeatedly been warned of the potential for a further explosion in the number of migrant children since the crisis began escalating two years ago, according to former federal officials and other people familiar with internal discussions.

Meanwhile, top officials focused much of their attention on political battles, such as Obama's 2012 re-election and the push to win congressional support for a broad immigration overhaul, that would have been made more difficult with the addition of a high-profile border crisis.

"I don't think they ignored this on purpose, but they didn't know what to do," said Michelle Brane, director of migrant rights at the Women's Refugee Commission, which published a 2012 report highlighting the influx of minors. "For whatever reason, there was hesitation to address the root causes. I think the administration was dealing with it at a minimal scale, putting a Band-Aid on something they should have been thinking about holistically."

Until recently, the number of Central American children crossing into the United States illegally was below 5,000 a year and was not considered a major problem among the many issues federal agents were dealing with at the Mexican border.

The number of minors arriving illegally from Central America -- who are afforded greater protections under a 2008 U.S. anti-trafficking law -- shot from 3,933 in 2011 to 20,805 in 2013. The Department of Health and Human Services had secured 5,000 beds across the country -- twice as many as the previous year -- but that wasn't enough. Immigration courts were backlogged. Border Patrol stations were overrun. Federal officials estimated that the total number of minors would soar to 60,000 in 2014.

A person involved in the planning said that inside the White House, national security staff members were concerned about the growing influx of children but that the influential team of domestic policy advisers was far more focused on the legislative push.

"Was the White House told there were huge flows of Central Americans coming? Of course they were told. A lot of times," said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. "Was there a general lack of interest and a focus on the legislation? Yes, that's where the focus was."

Munoz said the administration's proposal to overhaul the immigration system would have gone a long way toward alleviating the border crisis and preventing future problems.

The number of unaccompanied minors had been averaging just under 4,500 a month at the beginning of the year, then jumped to more than 7,000 a month in March and April before rocketing to more than 10,000 a month in May and June, administration officials said.

Interviews by Border Patrol agents with the migrant children and their families revealed a perception among them that the United States had relaxed its policies and would grant them "permisos" to remain in the country. U.S. officials said the permisos are actually formal notices to appear at immigration hearings that are issued to the minors when they are placed with relatives to await court dates.

Many of the minors also told border agents that they believed the cutoff date for permisos was June 2014, which federal officials said could explain the dramatic surge in the spring.

A Section on 07/21/2014

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