Obama Says US to Aid Unaccompanied Children Arriving from Mexico Tim Johnson - McClatchy Newspapers
go to original June 3, 2014

Obama has told federal agencies to coordinate relief such as housing and medical care. (Agence France-Presse)

MEXICO CITY - Citing an "urgent humanitarian situation," President Barack Obama on Monday ordered the government to provide special services for the thousands of children crossing into the United States from Mexico.

Border Patrol stations along the 1,950-mile southwest border and shelters are overflowing with the tens of thousands of unaccompanied children who have crossed into the United States this year.

Experts are at a loss to provide an explanation for the surge, which has seen the number of unaccompanied minors skyrocket from 13,625 in 2012 to 24,668 last year. The numbers are expected to climb as much as fivefold this year.

"They've already hit the 60,000 mark, and they are expecting another 60,000 before the end of the year," said Blaine Bookey, an attorney and associate director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California Hastings College of the Law.

Most of the minors are from Central America and have made the journey either alone, in groups or in the custody of smugglers who often abandon them.

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