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1 1 (June 29, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govedve0001 and id is 1 raw text is: * Congressional ~.Research Service Increasing Numbers of Unaccompanied Alien Children at the Southwest Border Updated June 29, 2021 In just the first eight months of FY2021, the number of encounters (apprehensions or expulsions) of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) at the U.S.-Mexico border with the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has exceeded the previous fiscal year peak that occurred in FY2019. While the number of UAC encounters declined substantially from FY2019 to FY2020, in large part because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have rapidly increased since February 2021. March 2021 UAC encounters (18,724) were the highest monthly total on record. Subsequent monthly figures have declined somewhat but are expected to continue at the current elevated rate for the rest of FY2021. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to exercise an authority under Title 42 of the U.S. Code (public health) that permits DHS to rapidly expel all individuals without a valid visa or who are apprehended between official ports of entry in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (expulsions). Expulsions for UAC were halted by a federal judge in November 2020, and formally rescinded by the Biden Administration in February 2021. All unaccompanied children are now being apprehended under Title 8 of the U.S. Code (immigration law), as in prior years. Unaccompanied alien children are statutorily defined as children who lack lawful immigration status in the United States, are under age 18, and lack a parent or legal guardian in the United States or a parent or legal guardian in the United States who is available to provide care and physical custody. UAC treatment and processing at U.S. borders are governed by several statutes and a legal settlement. These provisions require that arriving unaccompanied children from noncontiguous countries be transferred to the custody of HHS's Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and allowed to apply for asylum or other forms of immigration relief. In contrast, the law permits CBP to quickly repatriate Mexican and Canadian unaccompanied children who are not trafficking victims or who do not fear persecution in their countries. UAC apprehensions have fluctuated substantially in the past decade. They increased from 16,067 in FY2011 to 68,541 in FY2014, a record high at the time. They declined to 39,970 in FY2015, increased to 59,692 in FY2016, declined to 41,435 in FY2017, and increased to 50,036 in FY2018. In FY2019, UAC apprehensions reached anew record high of 76,020. FY2020 saw a decline to 30,557 encounters (19,618 Title 8 apprehensions and 10,939 Title 42 expulsions, which only occurred in the second half of the fiscal year) because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first eight months of FY2021, encounters reached 78,513 (73,871 apprehensions and 4,642 expulsions, which only occurred in the first two months of the fis cal year). CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Membersand Committeesof Congress

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