As the struggle with the US Mexican border continues, the issue of where to send the unaccompanied minors that attempt to cross. Some have even been sent to homes in Alaska.
This year alone, the federal government has placed 30,000 unaccompanied minors crossing the US Mexico border illegally with sponsors in the US. Five have recently been sent to this state.
Executive Director of the Catholic Social Services in Alaska Susan Bomalaski says those children are not considered refugees.
“Not according to the definition that’s used for our program. That’s a specific statement, a specific title that’s based on war and persecution. Now there’s an argument that that is indeed happening. And some people use the word refugee more broadly-- like people even say that people come to Anchorage because they are an energy refugee, the cost of energy is too expensive where they come from. But they do not fit the definition that a refugee resettlement program falls under. They fall under the unaccompanied minors program, which Alaska does not have an unaccompanied minors program.”
Bomalaski says although the five unaccompanied minors were brought to Alaska from the border, they weren’t just randomly placed here. They are being sponsored.
“We have gotten the information from what’s called the Office of Refugee Resettlement because that organization is an umbrella for both our program and the unaccompanied minors program. So we did receive a report and it’s been in the news, that there have been five children that have been in the unaccompanied minors program that have been released to a sponsor which means a family member.”
She says the children coming over here have to have a family that can support them independently, without government support.