View source for Unaccompanied Alien Children

[[File:Chart of Unaccompanied Minors Apprehended by USBP, 2014-2019.png|thumb|400px|Stacked-bar chart showing the number of unaccompanied minors apprehended by the US Border Patrol, broken down by country of origin, 2014 - May 31, 2019.]]
'''Unaccompanied Alien Children''' (or '''UAC''', also referred to as '''unaccompanied alien minors'''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-cabinet-meeting-9/ |title=Remarks by President Trump at Cabinet Meeting |date=21 June 2018 |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |quote=Since 2014 alone, nearly 200,000 unaccompanied alien minors have been released into the United States pending their immigration court proceedings as required under the Immigration and Naturalization Act and related laws and court orders}}</ref> or '''UAMs'''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.irli.org/single-post/2015/08/21/IRLI-Obtains-from-ICE-through-FOIA-Taxpayer-Costs-Regarding-the-Unaccompanied-Alien-Minor-Crisis |title=IRLI Obtains from ICE through FOIA Taxpayer Costs Regarding the Unaccompanied Alien Minor Crisis |work=[[Immigration Reform Law Institute]] |date=21 August 2015 |quote=the unaccompanied alien minor (UAM or UAC) crisis .. education of UAMs resettled}}</ref>) is a United States government classification for children in immigration custody and the name of a program operated by the [[Office of Refugee Resettlement]] (ORR; a division of the [[United States Department of Health and Human Services]], HHS) to house and care for them.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.hhs.gov/programs/social-services/unaccompanied-alien-children/latest-uac-data-fy2019/index.html|title=Latest UAC Data – FY2019|last=US Department of Health and Human Services. Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA)|date=2019-05-02|website=HHS.gov|language=en|access-date=2019-06-26}}</ref> The term designates [[unaccompanied minor]]s who are [[Alien (law)|alien]]s, typically those who have been apprehended outside of a legal port of entry or judged inadmissible<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/ofo-sw-border-inadmissibles|title=Southwest Border Inadmissibles by Field Office FY2018|quote=Southwest Border Unaccompanied Alien Children (0-17 yr old) Inadmissibles}}</ref> upon their entry.

The phrase "unaccompanied alien children" was first used in the Homeland Security Act of 2002.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/12/23/679592522/what-unaccompanied-alien-children-means|title=What 'Unaccompanied Alien Children' Means|last=Burnett|first=John|date=December 23, 2018|website=NPR.org|language=en|access-date=2019-06-26}}</ref> HHS defines "unaccompanied child" (UC) as a person "who has no lawful immigration status in the United States; has not attained 18 years of age, and with respect to whom; 1) there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States; or 2) no parent of legal guardian in the United States is available to provide care and physical custody."<ref>{{cite web |website=[[hhs.gov]] |url=https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/policy-guidance/who-we-serve-unaccompanied-children|title=Who We Serve - Unaccompanied Children|date=March 26, 2021}}</ref>

However, the practice of the Department of Homeland Security is to only define children traveling with their parents or legal guardians as part of "family units" and all other children as "unaccompanied minors."<ref name=":2" /> As a result, children traveling with grandparents, adult siblings, and aunts and uncles are referred to the UAC program.<ref name=":2" /> Children separated from their parents under the Trump administration's family separation policy were referred to the UAC program.<ref name=":4" />

ORR's '''Unaccompanied Alien Children Program''' began in 2003 and housed fewer than 8,000 children per year through 2011.<ref name=":3" /> Significant increases in the population occurred during crises in [[2014 American immigration crisis|2014]], 2016, 2019, and 2020&ndash;21 all driven by a surge in unaccompanied migrants fleeing violence and poverty in the [[Northern Triangle of Central America]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=RosenblumBall>Marc R. Rosenblum & Isabel Ball, [https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/UnaccompaniedMinors-Factsheet-FINAL.pdf Fact Sheet: Trends in Unaccompanied Child and Family Migration from Central America], Migration Policy Institute (January 2016).</ref><ref name=PosingTest>Michael D. Shear, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Eileen Sullivan, [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/10/us/politics/biden-immigration.html Young Migrants Crowd Shelters, Posing Test for Biden], ''New York Times'' (April 10, 2021).</ref> In fiscal year 2018, 49,100 children were referred to the UAC program, an average of 135 per day.<ref name=":3" /> This rate has since increased, and reached 287 daily referrals in April 2019.<ref name=":3" /> In April 2019, an average of 12,587 children were housed in the program, which then had a capacity of 14,363 beds.<ref name=":3" /> In April 2021, amid a renewed surge in unaccompanied minor migrants, more than 17,000 children were housed in HHS shelters, a number above the department's capacity.<ref name=PosingTest/>

[[U.S. Customs and Border Protection|Customs and Border Patrol]] (CBP), an agency of the [[United States Department of Homeland Security|Department of Homeland Security]], holds unaccompanied children after their initial arrest. CBP is legally obligated to refer them to the ORR's UAC program within 72 hours, but in 2019, such children are being for weeks or months in CBP custody.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/25/18715725/children-border-detention-kids-cages-immigration|title=The horrifying conditions facing kids in border detention, explained|last=Lind|first=Dara|date=2019-06-25|website=Vox|access-date=2019-06-26}}</ref> On June 13, 2019, the government reported that 2,081 UAC were held by the CBP;<ref name=":5" /> in late June, a CBP official stated that the number had been reduced to less than 1,000.<ref name=":6" />

==Age==
Most UAC are over 14 years old.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43599.pdf |title=Unaccompanied Alien Children: An Overview |date=18 January 2017 |first=William |last=Kandel |publisher=Congressional Research Service|via=[[Federation of American Scientists]] |quote=Although most are age 14 or older, apprehensions of UAC under age 13 have increased.}}</ref> The younger minority are assumed unable to make decisions independently.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-521 |work=[[Government Accountability Office]] |title=Unaccompanied Alien Children: Actions Needed to Ensure Children Receive Required Care in DHS Custody |date=14 July 2015 |quote=CBP policy states that UAC under age 14 are presumed generally unable to make an independent decision}}</ref> In 2009-2010, 41% of children under 14 were either 13 or 14.<ref name=AgeBreakdown/> In 2013, 24% of apprehended child arrivals were 14 or younger,<ref name=AgeBreakdown/> meaning 76% were 15-17.

When the [[U.S. Border Patrol]] apprehends a potential minor, the agency determines age based on biographical data collected from the child and "multiple forms of evidence, including interview statements, documentation (such as [[birth certificate]]s) or professional medical opinion based on [[radiograph]]s (or x-rays), if necessary."<ref>{{cite web |first=Lazaro |last=Zamora |url=https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/unaccompanied-alien-children-primer/ |title=Unaccompanied Alien Children: A Primer |work=[[Bipartisan Policy Center]] |date=21 July 2014 |quote=Upon apprehension, Border Patrol agents gather biographic information from the child and determine age based on multiple forms of evidence, including interview statements, documentation (such as birth certificates) or professional medical opinion based on radiographs (or x-rays), if necessary. via DHS}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/library/P4226.pdf |title=Age Determination Practices for Unaccompanied Alien Children in ICE Custody |work=[[Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General]] |date=November 2009 |quote=When ICE has difficulty determining whether an individual is a child or an adult, it may also obtain a professional medical opinion based on dental or skeletal radiographs, commonly referred to as x-rays, to help make a determination.}} OIG-10-12</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/library/P5048.pdf |title=Age Determination Practices for Unaccompanied Alien Children - Update |work=[[Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General]] |date=September 2010 |quote=To separate unaccompanied children from adult's in ICE custody, ICE attempts to establish the date of birth for any apprehended person not readily identifiable as an adult or child. In those instances, ICE relies on various forms of information for age determination purposes, including interview statements and documentation such as birth certificates. When ICE officials have difficulty determining whether an individual is a child or an adult, they may also obtain a professional medical opinion based on dental or skeletal radiographs, commonly referred to as x-rays, to help make an age determination. ICE's use of radiographs, however, has been criticized as unreliable by some in the medical and advocacy communities.}} OIG-10-122</ref>

==History==
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="width: 16em"
|+Number of Children referred to Office of Refugee Resettlement
!Fiscal Year
!Number of Children
|-
|2003
|4,792
|-
|2004
|6,200
|-
|2005
|7,800
|-
|2006
|7,746
|-
|2007
|8,212
|-
|2008
|7,211
|-
|2009
|6,639
|-
|2010
|8,302
|-
|2011
|7,120
|-
|2012
|13,625 or 14,271
|-
|2013
|24,668 or 25,498
|-
|2014
|57,496
|-
|2015
|33,726
|-
|2016
|59,170
|-
|2017
|40,810
|-
|2018
|49,100
|-
|2019
|69,488
|-
|2020
|15,381
|-
|2021
|122,731
|-
| colspan="2" |Source: [https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/olab/acf_congressional_budget_justification_2020.pdf ACF FY2020 Budget Justification]; [https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/about/ucs/facts-and-data ORR] (2012–2021; both figures included where they conflict); ''Washington Post''<ref name=":6">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/us-returns-100-migrant-children-to-overcrowded-border-facility-as-hhs-says-it-is-out-of-space/2019/06/25/397b0cb6-96b6-11e9-830a-21b9b36b64ad_story.html|title=U.S. returns 100 migrant children to overcrowded border facility as HHS says it is out of space|last=Hauslohner|first=Abigail|date=2019-06-25|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=2019-06-26|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
|}
The Office of Refugee Resettlement took over the supervision of unaccompanied minors in 2003. In the first nine years of its operations, it was charged with fewer than 8,000 children per year.<ref name=":0">Office of Refugee Resettlement, [https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/orr/orr_fact_sheet_on_unaccompanied_alien_childrens_services_0.pdf Fact Sheet: Unaccompanied Alien Children Program], June 15, 2018.</ref>

The number of apprehended UAC doubled from 2009 to 2013.<ref name=AgeBreakdown>{{cite web |url=http://bipartisanpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/default/files/BPC%20Immigration%20Task%20Force%20-%20Child%20Migration%20by%20the%20Numbers%20June%202014.pdf |title=Child Migration by the Numbers |website=[[BipartianPolicy.Org]] |date=June 2014 |quote=The number of UAC apprehended doubled between FY 2009 and FY 2013 and is on pace to nearly double again by the end of FY 2014.<br>..<br>In FY 2013, 24 percent of arriving children were 14 or younger, compared with 10 to 15 percent in FY 2007 and FY 2008.<br>..<br>Based on case file data obtained from ORR, the Vera Institute of Justice reported that in FY 2009 and FY 2010, 41 percent of children under age 14 were either 13 or 14 and about 59 percent were 12 or younger.}}</ref>

The [[2014 American immigration crisis]] included an influx of unaccompanied minors. The [[Obama administration]] classified influx as an urgent humanitarian situation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/02/presidential-memorandum-response-influx-unaccompanied-alien-children-acr |title=Presidential Memorandum – Response to the Influx of Unaccompanied Alien Children Across the Southwest Border |date=2 June 2014 |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |quote=The influx of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) across the southwest border of the United States has resulted in an urgent humanitarian situation}}</ref> Many UACs sought asylum in the United States.<ref name=Angelo>Paul J. Angelo, [https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/why-central-american-migrants-are-arriving-us-border Central American Migrants Are Arriving at the U.S. Border], Council on Foreign Relations (March 22, 2021).</ref>

After a 2015 dip, in 2016 the number of apprehended UAC rose back to high levels similar to 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |website=[[theguardian.com]] |title=How Breitbart and the conservative right opened a new front in the war over fake news |first=Rory |last=Caroll |date=15 December 2016 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/15/breitbart-fake-news-right-trump |quote=Its main evidence is a “massive increase in the numbers of apprehensions, particularly in the numbers of Unaccompanied Alien Children ‘UAC’ and Family Unit Aliens (FMUA)”. Family unit apprehensions are indeed at a historical high and UAC apprehensions are surging back to levels seen in 2014.}}</ref> The Border Patrol reports that it apprehended 32,372 unaccompanied minors from October 1, 2017 to May 31, 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration|title=Southwest Border Migration FY2018 {{!}} U.S. Customs and Border Protection|website=www.cbp.gov|language=en|access-date=2018-06-21}}</ref> There was a 4% increase in the Southwest in FY2018 compared to FY2017.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/usbp-sw-border-apprehensions |title=U.S. Border Patrol Southwest Border Apprehensions by Sector FY2018 |date=6 June 2018 |website=[[cbp.gov]]}}</ref>

In early 2016, the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee published a report that sharply criticized the ORR's mishandling of resettling UACs.<ref>[https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/subcommittees/investigations/hearings/adequacy-of-the-department-of-health-and-human-services-efforts-to-protect-unaccompanied-alien-children-from-human-trafficking "Adequacy of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Efforts to Protect Unaccompanied Alien Children From Human Trafficking"]</ref> The investigation found that ORR performed home studies in less than five percent of cases and never once terminated a sponsorship agreement with a sponsor. ORR's official policy stated that sponsors could refuse contact between the agency and the UAC, and should the sponsor refuse contact, the case was considered closed.

In 2018 the [[First presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration]] reported tens of thousands of UAC were released annually and only 3.5% had been removed from the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/need-know-loopholes-allowing-unaccompanied-alien-children-stay-country/ |title=What You Need To Know About Loopholes Allowing Unaccompanied Alien Children To Stay In The Country |date=4 April 2018 |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |quote=Tens of thousands of UAC are released into the interior of the United States each year, including more than 107,000 since fiscal year (FY) 2016. Only about 3.5 percent of unaccompanied minors apprehended at the border, however, have been removed.}}</ref> In 2017 and 2018, under a [[Trump administration zero tolerance policy|zero tolerance policy]], children who were separated from arrested adults they were traveling with are treated as UAC.<ref name=":4">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/18/why-are-families-being-separated-at-the-us-border-explainer |title=Why are families being separated at the US border? |date=18 June 2018 |website=[[theguardian.com]] |first1=Amanda |last1=Holpuch |first2=Lauren |last2=Gambino |quote=After being separated from their parents, the children – some as young as 18 months – are then treated as “unaccompanied alien children”, a category which exists primarily to serve children who voluntarily arrive at the border on their own. Unaccompanied alien children are placed in the custody of ORR within 72 hours of being apprehended by border agents. They then wait, in government-run facilities, for weeks or months while agency officials search for relatives or sponsors to care for the child while their immigration case is pending.}}</ref>

The number of unaccompanied minors sharply increased in 2020&ndash;21, and was projected to be larger than previous surges in 2014, 2016, and 2019.<ref name=PosingTest/> Most unaccompanied migrant children were fleeing poverty and violence in the three "[[Northern Triangle]]" countries of [[central America]]: [[El Salvador]], [[Guatemala]], and [[Honduras]].<ref name=Angelo/><ref name=PosingTest/> By April 2021, there were more than 20,000 children and teenagers in the custody of the government, of whom almost 17,000 were in [[U.S. Department of Health and Human Services]] (HHS) shelters, and the remainder were held in [[U.S. Border Patrol]] facilities that resembled detention.<ref name=PosingTest/> The government's system was seriously strained, since it lacked the capacity to handle the surge; the Biden administration has sought to expedite transfers of migrant children from the "border jails" to HHS-run shelters, group homes, and other facilities.<ref name=PosingTest/>

The ''New York Times'' reported in April 2021: "The United States has long struggled to quickly move children out of the government's care to make room for new arrivals. Most are eventually matched with a parent who is already in the country. But others are handed over to more distant relatives, friends or foster parents. The more distant the connection, the longer the children are typically held in the shelters while health officials do background checks to ensure their safety. Of the roughly 2,000 minors released to sponsors in the past week, about half were reunited with parents or legal guardians after an average of 23 days. Those with more distant relatives had to wait on average nearly two months."<ref name=PosingTest/>

== Customs and Border Patrol detention of UACs ==
[[File:CBP_Processing_Unaccompanied_Children_(15020196668).jpg|thumb|Border Patrol Processing Unaccompanied Children on the South Texas Border in 2014]]
Customs and Border Patrol apprehends tens of thousands of children annually at the US–Mexico border, including those who are deemed inadmissible for legal entry into the United States at ports of entry and those detained outside of ports of entry. The CBP assigns children a status as either a member of a "family unit" or an unaccompanied minor, according to the following definition: "Individuals under the age of 18 who were not with their biological parent or legal guardian at the time of the encounter."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2019-Mar/CBP-Border-Security-Report-FY2018.pdf|title=CBP Border Security Report: Fiscal Year 2018|last=US Customs and Border Protection|date=2019|pages=1}}</ref> Adults traveling with children are required to verify their legal or biological parentage, and if they cannot, the children are deemed unaccompanied.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Linton|first1=Julie M.|last2=Griffin|first2=Marsha|last3=Shapiro|first3=Alan J.|last4=Pediatrics|first4=Council on Community|date=2017-05-01|title=Detention of Immigrant Children|url=https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/139/5/e20170483|journal=Pediatrics|volume=139|issue=5|pages=–20170483|doi=10.1542/peds.2017-0483|issn=0031-4005|pmid=28289140|access-date=2019-06-26|doi-access=free}}</ref> As a result, children traveling with grandparents, adult siblings, and aunts and uncles are referred to the UAC program.<ref name=":2" />

Regardless of whether they are deemed UACs or part of family units, children and adults are initially held in CBP processing centers. The 1997 [[Reno v. Flores#Flores Settlement Agreement (FSA)|Flores v. Reno Settlement Agreement]] requires the government to hold children "in facilities that are safe and sanitary" and to rapidly transfer unaccompanied children to ORR custody.<ref name=":5" /> In mid-2019 reports on conditions in CBP processing centers showed that children were being held for days or weeks rather than the 72-hour maximum required under Flores.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> HHS Secretary [[Alex Azar]] stated on June 24, 2019, that, "We do not have capacity for more of these unaccompanied children who come across the border. And what happens is they get backed up there at the Department of Homeland Security's facilities because I can't put someone in a bed that does not exist in our shelters."<ref name=":6" />

=== Conditions ===
In June 2019, a legal team inspected (per the ''[[Flores settlement]]'') a facility in [[Clint, Texas]] (near El Paso) where 250 infant, child and teenage migrants were detained. The lawyers accused the government of neglecting and mistreating the young migrants. The relatively older minors had to take care of the younger ones. The children said they were not fed fruits or vegetables and had not bathed or changed their clothes in weeks.  The children were "essentially being warehoused, as many as 300 children in a cell, with almost no adult supervision." The children were "malnourished", there were outbreaks of flu and lice, and "children sleeping on the floor". Professor Warren Binford of the Willamette University was one of the inspectors. She declared that in her years of inspections, this was "the worst conditions" she had ever seen. She also said that the children at Clint were claiming asylum. In response to the situation at Clint, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) declared: "our short-term holding facilities were not designed to hold vulnerable populations and we urgently need additional humanitarian funding to manage this crisis."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/46da2dbe04f54adbb875cfbc06bbc615|title=Attorneys: Texas border facility is neglecting migrant kids|last1=Attanasio|first1=Cedar|last2=Burke|first2=Garance|date=2019-06-21|website=Associated Press|access-date=June 22, 2019|last3=Mendoza|first3=Martha}}</ref><ref name="PBSinhumane">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/a-firsthand-report-of-inhumane-conditions-at-a-migrant-childrens-detention-facility|title=A firsthand report of 'inhumane conditions' at a migrant children's detention facility|last1=Brangham|first1=William|date=June 21, 2019|website=[[PBS]]|access-date=June 22, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48710432  |title=Are US child migrant detainees entitled to soap and beds? |work=BBC News |accessdate=June 23, 2019 |date=June 20, 2019}}</ref>

Also that month, Dolly Lucio Sevier, a board-certified doctor, visited the largest CBP detention center in the United States, the [[Ursula (detention center)|Ursula facility]] in [[McAllen, Texas]] which held migrant minors. Her visit came after a flu outbreak at the facility that resulted in five infants requiring to enter a [[neonatal intensive care unit]]. Sevier wrote that a medical declaration that the "conditions within which [the migrant minors] are held could be compared to torture facilities ... extreme cold temperatures, lights on 24 hours a day, no adequate access to medical care, basic sanitation, water, or adequate food." All of the 39 children she assessed showed signs of [[Psychological trauma|trauma]].<ref name="ABCsevier">{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/doctor-compares-conditions-immigrant-holding-centers-torture-facilities/story?id=63879031|title=Doctor compares conditions for unaccompanied children at immigrant holding centers to 'torture facilities'|last1=Marshall|first1=Serena|last2=Zak|first2=Lana|website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]|access-date=June 24, 2019|last3=Metz|first3=Jennifer}}</ref>

Under federal law, the migrant minors were supposed to be detained for a maximum of 72 hours. At both the facilities in Clint and McAllen, many children said that they had been detained for three weeks or more.<ref name="PBSinhumane" /><ref name="ABCsevier" />

In June 2019, three [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|Ninth Circuit]] heard the case, ''17-56297 Jenny Flores v. William Barr'', in which Sarah Fabian, the senior attorney in the Department of Justice's [[United States Department of Justice Civil Division|Office of Immigration Litigation]] requested the Court to overturn the July 2017 district court's order "requiring the government to provide detainees with hygiene items such as soap and toothbrushes in order to comply with the “safe and sanitary conditions” requirement set forth in the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement". During the June 20, 2019 proceedings, Ninth Circuit Judge William Fletcher said it was "inconceivable" that the United States government would consider it "safe and sanitary" to detain child migrants in conditions where it was "cold all night long, lights on all night long, sleeping on concrete and you've got an aluminium foil blanket?"<ref name="BBC_20190620">{{Cite news| title = Are US child migrant detainees entitled to soap?| access-date = July 14, 2019| date = June 20, 2019| url = https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48710432}}</ref><ref name="theatlantic_Escobar_20190714">{{Cite web| last = Escobar| first = Natalie| title = Family Separation Isn't New| work = [[The Atlantic]]| access-date = July 14, 2019| date = August 14, 2018| url = https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/08/us-immigration-policy-has-traumatized-children-for-nearly-100-years/567479/}}</ref> Fabian said that the ''Flores agreement'' mandating "safe and sanitary" conditions for detained migrant children was "vague" and it was not compulsory for the government to provide toothbrushes, soap or adequate bedding to them.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48710432|title=Are US child migrant detainees entitled to soap and beds?|date=June 20, 2019|work=BBC News|access-date=June 23, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/safe-sanitary-no-soap-beds-court-migrants-trump-850744/|title=Trump Administration Argues Migrant Children Don't Need Soap|last1=Dickinson|first1=Tim|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=June 20, 2019|access-date=June 23, 2019}}</ref>

== Office of Refugee Resettlement UAC Program facilities ==
The ORR coordinates a network of over 100 facilities in seventeen states housing over ten thousand children within the UAC program.<ref name=":0" /> Approximately, 11,400 children were in ORR custody in mid-June 2018.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/inside-casa-padre-the-converted-walmart-where-the-us-is-holding-nearly-1500-immigrant-children/2018/06/14/0cd65ce4-6eba-11e8-bd50-b80389a4e569_story.html|title=Inside Casa Padre, the converted Walmart where the U.S. is holding nearly 1,500 immigrant children|last1=Miller|first1=Michael E.|date=2018-06-14|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=2018-06-21|last2=Brown|first2=Emma|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286|last3=Davis|first3=Aaron C.}}</ref> The largest share of these children—5,129—were held in facilities managed by [[Southwest Key Programs]], an Austin-based non-profit with facilities in Texas, Arizona, and California.<ref name=":1" /> On average, as of June 15, 2018, children had stayed in these facilities for 57 days.<ref name=":0" /> According to spokesperson Wolfe, the [[Tornillo Port of Entry]] is being used as a temporary shelter for UAC.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/14/politics/immigration-shelter-unaccompanied-children-undocumented-families/index.html|title=Texas port of entry chosen as temporary shelter for unaccompanied children|last=Kopan|first=Tal|date=14 June 2018|website=[[cnn.com]]|quote=In a statement, the office that handles child settlement within the Health and Human Services Department said it had chosen a location in Texas to handle the influx. "The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with the support of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has selected Tornillo Land Port of Entry as a temporary shelter location for unaccompanied alien children cared for by HHS' Administration for Children and Families," said spokesman Kenneth Wolfe.}}</ref>

By December 17, 2018, 14,314 children were housed by the program. Overall, the Associated Press reported that the UAC program supervised over 150 programs in 17 states in 2017 and 2018, noting that their conditions "range from bucolic to jail-like."<ref name=":7">{{Cite news|url=https://apnews.com/a857e04de9bc4871995b65784ed7ccd8|title='A moral disaster': AP reveals scope of migrant kids program|last1=Burke|first1=Garance|date=2018-12-20|work=Associated Press|access-date=2019-06-29|last2=Mendoza|first2=Martha}}</ref> At that time, the three largest facilities—the [[Tornillo tent city]], the [[Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children|Homestead (Florida) Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children]], and [[Casa Padre]] in Brownsville, Texas—housed over 5,400 children. The five largest contractors for the program oversaw more than 11,600 children in the UAC program. These providers are Southwest Key (headquartered in Austin, Texas); BCFS Health and Human Services (San Antonio, Texas); Comprehensive Health Services Inc. (Cape Canaveral, Florida); Cayuga Centers (Auburn, New York); and Heartland Alliance (Chicago, Illinois).<ref name=":7" />

In June 2019, HHS cut all recreational and educational programs for unaccompanied children to focus its budget on providing for the basic needs of the children it houses.<ref name=":6" />

UAC facilities include the following:

* [[Casa Padre]], a private facility owned and operated by [[Southwest Key Programs]], in [[Brownsville, Texas]]—A housing facility for children built in a former Walmart and operated under contract for the Department of Health and Human Services. On June 13, it housed 1,469 children, a plurality of whom arrived as unaccompanied minors crossing the border. S
[[File:Homestead_Florida_Unaccompanied_Minors.jpg|thumb|Unaccompanied minors walk in a Homestead, Florida, facility supervised by the [[Office of Refugee Resettlement]], on June 20, 2018.]]
* Estrella del Norte, a private facility owned and operated by Southwest Key Programs, in [[Tucson, Arizona]]—A 300-bed housing facility for children, that housed 287 children in mid-June 2018. 
* An [[East Harlem|East Harlem, New York]] shelter run by Cayuga Centers, Children's Village in [[Dobbs Ferry, New York]], and additional shelters in [[Long Island]], in [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester]] and the [[The Bronx|Bronx]] are among nine facilities in New York state house unaccompanied children.

==See also==
*{{section link|2014 American immigration crisis|Surge in unaccompanied children migrating to the United States from Central America}}
*{{section link|crime in El Salvador|Unaccompanied minors fleeing El Salvador}}
*[[Criminal impersonation]]
*[[Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2014]]
*[[Family immigration detention in the United States]]
*[[Flores Agreement]]
*[[Office of Refugee Resettlement]]
*[[Reception of Unaccompanied Minors from the Northern Triangle]]
*[[San Pedro Sula]]
*[[Timeline of events related to migrant children's detention centers in the United States]]
*[[Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the United Kingdom]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Immigration to the United States}}

[[Category:Immigration to the United States]]
[[Category:Childhood in the United States]]
[[Category:Human rights in the United States]]
[[Category:Social care in the United States]]
[[Category:Child refugees]]