border

When word got out last week that unaccompanied children from Central America would be arriving in Oregon, demonstrators zeroed in on the Portland nonprofit tasked with finding them long-term placement....

Federal officials subsequently confirmed that 50 children had been placed with sponsors in the state...

Refugee Resettlement, which falls under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, contracts with Morrison to temporarily house unaccompanied minors in this state. The 50 children the federal agency placed with sponsors in Oregon were among those apprehended at the border from Jan. 1 to July 7. By comparison, 211 went to Washington state, eight to Idaho and 3,150 to California during that period.

Most local officials closest to the issue have refused to talk....

But immigration experts estimate that hundreds of unaccompanied minors have been processed in the Portland area this year alone....

A review of job openings posted online last month shows that Morrison is opening a new Refugee Resettlement shelter in downtown Portland...

Morrison operates three locations for unaccompanied minors...

Morrison received nearly $3.7 million this year in federal grants to house unaccompanied immigrant children...

The Refugee Resettlement office has $868 million dedicated to unaccompanied immigrant children this year, and received an additional $44 million due to the surge.

Wait times

... In Oregon, immigrants had to wait 1,178 days on average -- or more than three years -- to get their cases resolved in court, based on data in October 2013. That was the second longest in the nation at the time, shorter only than Nebraska. Now immigration courts are speeding up hearings for the tens of thousands of Central American children caught on the U.S. border after criticism about the backlogged system, giving each child an initial court hearing within three weeks.
-- Associated Press

  Read more about Immigration: Portland agency to expand in response to surge of unaccompanied minors at Mexico border

The House late Friday revived and approved a Republican-authored border crisis bill after GOP leaders hurriedly resolved an internal battle that scuttled the vote a day earlier – but with the Senate on recess and the House soon to follow, there’s little chance of any bill reaching President Obama’s desk until the fall.

The president now is vowing to act unilaterally to address the illegal immigration issue....

The new measure's price tag is now roughly $700 million, up from $659 million -- but still one-fifth of the $3.7 billion Obama requested, and a far cry from what the Senate considered....

Senate Democrats, though, were not able to muster enough votes to pass their bill either. House Republicans insisted they were the only ones still trying to do something about the border crisis.

“When it comes to the humanitarian crisis on our southern border, President Obama has been completely AWOL,” a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said....

Many Republicans blame the Obama administration policies for that perception, particularly a two-year-old program that has granted work permits and relief from deportation to more than 500,000 immigrants brought here illegally as kids....

Fox News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report

Read more about House revives, approves border crisis bill – as Obama vows to ‘act alone’

TUCSON, Ariz. — U.S. Border Patrol officials said Wednesday that agents discovered a garage-sized hole through a steel fence that divides the United States and Mexico just east of Nogales, Arizona.

The announcement was the second one this week about problems with the border fence...

"Smugglers often attempt to cut border fences; dig under them; climb over them; and even throw things over the fence," Border Patrol spokeswoman Nicole Ballistrea said...

.... smugglers have no shortage of creative ways to try to bypass the law and sneak drugs into the U.S....

Just last month, agents in Arizona spotted a truck made to look like it belonged to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a federal agency. The decals on the truck turned out to be fake. But the 3,200 pounds (1,451 kilograms) of marijuana in it were real.

  Read more about Smugglers cut hole through one part of the fence, while rains knock down another section

House Republican leaders are trying anew to round up an elusive majority for a bill addressing the border crisis, after a chaotic day where they initially abandoned the legislation and began sending lawmakers home for the summer recess -- only to reverse course moments later.

The dramatic scene unfolded at a rapid clip Thursday afternoon. Earlier, House leaders abruptly canceled a planned vote on a package meant to address the surge of illegal immigrant minors crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, with a combination of funding and policy changes, after failing to gather enough votes for it.

Lawmakers began heading out for the five-week summer recess. But incoming House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., then took to the floor to say "additional votes are possible," indicating lawmakers should stay. Boos could be heard in the House chamber as he made the announcement.

But House Republicans later huddled on Capitol Hill before the House adjourned for the day. It was scheduled to meet again Friday morning.

The second thoughts reflected deep concerns in the GOP caucus about the prospect of leaving for the August recess without addressing the border bill, amid criticism from both sides of the aisle.

It remains unclear whether there's any chance enough votes can be rounded up to pass the measure. Senior Republican leaders were adamant, though, that something must be done, regardless of the looming recess.

"We'll stay until we vote," House oversight committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said.

Asked if the House can find a solution, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said: "We'd better."

If lawmakers do end up breaking for recess without a bill, House leaders left open the possibility of recalling members if need be when they feel they have a majority of 218 votes. Earlier, sources said GOP leaders were "way short" of the votes they needed, with conservative lawmakers joining Democrats in refusing to back the package.

Asked Thursday afternoon if the bill still has a chance, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., said: "We'll see." He told Fox News that he was at the airport when his secretary told him to return to Capitol Hill.

The Senate still has a border bill on its plate, but that legislation is different from what was being considered in the House.

A joint statement from House Republican leaders said the "situation shows the intense concern within our conference -- and among the American people -- about the need to ensure the security of our borders and the president's refusal to faithfully execute our laws."

In the absence of legislation, Republicans urged President Obama to act on his own to secure the borders and safely deport illegal immigrant children.

"We will continue to work on solutions to the border crisis and other challenges facing our country," they said.

But Senate Democrats blasted their House colleagues for dropping the legislation. "Shame on the House of Representatives," Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry also slammed his fellow Republicans, saying "it's beyond belief that Congress is abandoning its post while our border crisis continues to create humanitarian suffering."

The legislation's prospects changed quickly over the course of the day. Initially, House leaders thought they had a plan to win enough support, by scheduling a separate vote on legislation to prohibit Obama from expanding a policy that lets some illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children stay. Amid reports that the administration is considering such an expansion, the bill by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., would specifically bar the president from broadening the 2012 policy.

Republicans say another illegal immigrant reprieve by the president would only exacerbate the surge of illegal immigrant children trekking to the U.S.-Mexico border from Central America.

"Such action would create an even greater incentive for more illegal crossings and make the crisis on our border even worse, and that would be a grave mistake," House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday.

The vote had been scheduled by Republican leaders as part of the effort to win conservative support for the separate, scaled-down package giving the Department of Homeland Security an immediate $659 million to address the border crisis and making other policy changes.

But Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, nevertheless raised concerns with House members about their version of the border legislation, and lawmakers and aides said Thursday that it had an impact. They also pointed to opposition from Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

Sessions voiced concerns about both the House and Senate proposals, arguing that the Senate would never take up the executive action bill being considered in the House. Sessions wants any bill addressing the president's funding request to also address the executive action issue.

"We as policy makers must face the reality that the president is openly planning to use executive actions to provide amnesty and work permits to millions without any lawful authority," he said in a statement.

Democrats, meanwhile, accused Republicans of playing games.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said earlier in the day: "It is extraordinary that the House of Representatives, after failing for more than a year to reform our broken immigration reform system, would vote to restrict a law enforcement tool that the Department of Homeland Security uses to focus resources on key enforcement priorities like public safety and border security, and provide temporary relief from deportation for people who are low priorities for removal."

Unlike the House bill, the Senate package would authorize $2.7 billion with no policy riders.

While 11 Republican senators helped the Senate bill meet a key procedural hurdle, enough of them -- including at least one Democrat -- said they would filibuster final passage if the measure is not amended. Like their House colleagues, they want changes to a 2008 law that would require the government to treat illegal immigrants apprehended at the border the same, regardless of country of origin. Read more about House GOP leaders hold out hope for border crisis fix, after vote fizzles

At least 30,000 migrant Central American students are heading to classrooms across the country this fall, bring low levels of education that will bring down classroom averages, and overwhelm already struggling school districts, educators are warning.

The Obama administration announced earlier this month that some 30,340 foreign youths and children had been distributed, with the bulk, 4,280, remaining near where they crossed the southern border in Texas, reports The Daily Caller.

Other high numbers of students headed to Virginia, which received 2,234 youths, Maryland, with 2,205, North Carolina, with 1,191, and New Jersey, getting 1,504.

Even more students may be showing up in the classrooms, with more than 100,000 migrants being distributed nationwide.

In many cases, such students have "very, very limited amounts of education [and] in some cases, they cannot count to 10,” Caroline Woodason, assistant director for student support at the public schools in Dalton, Ga., told The Dalton Daily Citizen. "They can’t turn on a computer. They’ve never even seen a computer. Also, they, in most cases, cannot speak English or Spanish."

The students instead speak Mam or another language that is specific to their home regions, and Woodason said there is no way they can participate in U.S. history, biology, or other high school courses without special preparation.

By law, high school students may remain in school until they are 22 years old. Dalton officials have formed a "Newcomer Academy" at one school to help deal with the Central American students' challenges. To qualify, students must prove to be non-proficient in English and three years behind academically.

Education specialist Robin Hambly in Fairfax, Va., told The Washington Post "teachers [are] dealing with children not just learning English but years below expected grade/achievement level." Early this year, her school district had 5,192 Central American students, up 22 percent since 2011.

And many of the students are facing more than just academic challenges, said Hamby.

The youths are escaping harrowing journeys to come north to escape lives filled with gang violence and poverty in their home countries, and are struggling.

"These kids were homesick and heartbroken," said Hamby.

"There's no way a [foreign] child is going to be able to come to school ready and able to learn if we don’t address some of the other issues they’re facing,” Debra Duardo, executive director for human services for the Los Angeles Unified School District, told the Chicago Tribune.

But educators are finding that the foreign-born students are, in most cases, appreciative of their opportunity to learn and find a safe haven in America's classrooms.

"I haven't learned much here, but know with the school I will learn," Marlon, a 16-year-old Honduran who arrived in February, told the Tribune. The boy's name was withheld because of his age, and he now lives with relatives in the New Orleans area.

Speaking Spanish, Marlon said that so far, he hasn't "learned much here, but know with the school I will learn. I think it's good to learn English here. If the judge allows me to stay, I can get a job if I speak English, and opportunity." Read more about US Schools Brace for Flood of Central American Immigrant Students

The tens of thousands unaccompanied immigrant children who have been caught this year at the border are being bused and flown to facilities across the country where they will be housed and cared for in make-shift camps until they are released to family. As a result, many officials in northern states are taking a sudden interest in this crisis and are demanding to know what is being done to deter future waves of children from coming to America illegally.

Last week six sheriffs from across the country were given the opportunity to take a ride on two of the Texas Highway Patrol speed and gun boats that have been patrolling the Rio Grande south of Mission since this crisis began.

Susan Tully, as the Federation for American Immigration Reform’s (FAIR’s) National Field director, helped organize the tour. Tully said FAIR is a nonprofit public policy organization out of Washington, D.C., that has been in place 35 years. Supporters of FAIR believe immigration policies should benefit America and Americans first and foremost, she said.

“What we’re doing down here in the Rio Grande Valley is all about public education of our law enforcement officials so that they can see exactly what is going on along the border,” Tully said. “The true story is not being told by most of the media so we felt it was important for these sheriffs to see the situation down here first-hand.”

She said sheriffs were strategically picked from across the country so they can in turn go back and share what they learned with their colleagues.

While public education was one of the objectives of the northern sheriffs’ visit to the Valley last week, Tully said FAIR’s ultimate goal is to change the nation’s current immigration laws.

“One of the reasons we came down here was to talk to the people who are having to deal with this crisis on a daily basis,” said Tully. “Without fai,l they all agree that the first thing we need to do is to change the 2008 law that requires them to treat minors from other countries differently than they do those from Mexico. That we need to change that legislation because between that and the (Obama) administration granting DACA (deferred action for childhood arrivals) telling children and young people that if they show up here we’re going to legalize them somehow is a perfect storm for what’s going on down here.”

The six sheriffs that toured the Rio Grande on the Texas Highway Department boats last week were Lewis Evangelidis (Worchester County, Massachusetts), Charles Jenkins (Fredericks County, Maryland), Sam Page (Rockingham County, North Carolina), Tony Childress (Livingston County, Illinois), Ken Matlack (Morrow County, Oregon) and Thomas Hodgson (Bristol County, Massachusetts).

As the six sheriffs stood on the boat dock at Anzalduas Park shortly after their ride-along with state troopers, Hodgson said the group met with Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra as well as Border Patrol personnel.

“Seeing as how a number of us are having to deal with individuals who are being sent from here to our home states, we need to know what kind of problems they’re dealing with along the border because with the movement of these individuals all over the country we’re all becoming border states,” Hodgson said.

“We’re going to be mobilizing sheriffs across this country to demand that Congress, as well as the president, act to secure these borders once and for all. We’ve been asking for it for decades and while a lot of people are referring to this as a humanitarian crisis, those of us who have our boots on the ground and have been working to get our federal government to secure our border over these years see it as a leadership crisis. Therein lays our problem.”

According to Customs and Border Protection reports, CBP has apprehended 57,525 unaccompanied alien children along the Southwest Border between October 2013 and June 2014 -- a 106 percent increase over the same period a year ago. During the same period CBP also apprehended 55,420 family units crossing the border illegally -- a 493 percent increase over last year.

In the Rio Grande Sector there have been 42,164 unaccompanied alien children and 42,358 family unit apprehensions since last October. These represent increases of 189 percent and over 500 percent, respectively.

Other than Mexican apprehensions reported from October through June were 154,606 for the Rio Grande Sector and 202,951 for the Southwest Border. Read more about Northern sheriffs get close-up look at border crisis

SALEM, Ore. -- It's exactly 1,050 miles from the Northeast Center St. overpass along Interstate 5 in Salem to the Mexican border.

About two-dozen people lined the overpass with American flags and signs on Saturday afternoon for Salem's slice of the big national movement this weekend against illegal immigration.

"We have compassion for the people coming here. But it's important they know they can't stay," said Cynthia Kendoll, president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, the group that helped organize Salem's event. "They need to return to their home countries."

Most of the protesters trying to get drivers to pay attention were white and American-born, except for a man named Ryan Trasad.

Trasad is an immigrant himself who came to the United States 40 years ago from the Fiji Islands, closer to New Zealand than America.

"I don't think anybody I've talked to is against immigrants," said Trasad. "We're a land of immigrants. We know that."

Trasad probably did not talk much with a woman named Laura Cole, who was at the same protest on the overpass with her husband and 4-year-old son.

"I want to keep Oregon the way it is, the people that make up this town" said Cole.

When asked what she meant by that, Cole answered she wants to "keep Mexicans in Mexico. Keep European-Americans here, where we are, in our homeland... I think it's OK for us to be proud that this is our territory."

Officially, the protest was only supposed to be objecting to illegal immigration, not all kinds of immigration.

It only took a few minutes for word to spread among the protesters about Cole's comments during our recorded television interview.

Cynthia Kendoll, the group's organizer, approached our crew to distance herself from Cole's opinions.

"I heard through multiple other people that a woman made a remark that the United States should remain white, and other people should go back to their home countries," said Kendoll. "The message of our organization is if you want to come to the United States, there are legal channels to do so."

Kendoll knows fringe messages of intolerance can seep in awfully easily.

For example, after drivers passed below the official protest on I-5, they approached another group of people with an even larger sign on the next overpass.

The large banner said, "Diversity is code-word for white genocide," which represents a group opposing all forms of diversity.

"A small element of it does shade what we're trying to do," said Kendoll. "We are a nation of people who have immigrated here to build our country." Read more about 'Keep Mexicans in Mexico' comment stirs up controversy at rally