Relatives of Unaccompanied Minors Fear Deportation
Alexander Richey
Thousands of unaccompanied minors remain detained a week out from the deadline for the Trump administration to reunite children with their parents.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement says four hundred and fifty three children have been resettled in Alabama this year through April. It isn’t known how many since then. Children released from detention are placed into foster care shelters or with relatives who are approved as sponsors.
The problem is, many relatives are afraid to come forward to take in these children. That’s because they’re required to disclose their immigration status to private resettlement agencies and the Department of Homeland Security.
Isabel Rubio, director of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, says relatives are still worried. “People are concerned that if their information is sent to the Department of Homeland Security that they are at higher risk for deportation because now immigration knows exactly who they are and where they live.”
The administration says collecting the information is a way to vet members of the household for criminal history or prior sex offenses. Officials say it also closes loopholes in child trafficking.
Rubio says if relatives of unaccompanied minors do not come forward, children are likely to be detained longer, or stay in foster care while they await immigration hearings.
More than 20 dead after tornadoes sweep through Kentucky and Missouri
Powerful storms and tornadoes tore through several Midwestern and Southern states overnight Friday, leaving carnage and flattened buildings in their wake.
Opinion: A wealth of wisdom for a bargain price
NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the discovery that what Harvard University thought was a copy of the Magna Carta is actually an original.
Bessemer residents want answers about a four-million-square-foot data center coming to their backyards
Residents in and around Bessemer are furious over Project Marvel, a plan to build a 4.5-million-square-foot data processing facility on 700 acres of wooded land. Public officials have been sworn to silence.
Amid global competition for production business, Hollywood is hurting
Hollywood's plummeting film and TV production levels have studio executives and grassroots groups pushing for better incentives to keep business in California.
A Russian drone strike in northeastern Ukraine kills 9 people, officials say
The drone hit a bus evacuating civilians from a front-line area in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region Saturday, hours after Moscow and Kyiv had held their first direct peace talks in years.
How DOGE has tried to embed beyond the executive branch
NPR has identified nearly 40 small, independent entities – both inside and outside the federal government's control – that a team of young DOGE staffers has tried to access in recent weeks.
