It shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody. 

                A couple of weeks ago we opined that the federal government is ill equipped to handle the volume of illegal immigrants flooding into the United States; some 52,000 of them are unaccompanied children.  In the last two weeks that number has risen to 57,000.

                Also mentioned was that the $3 billion requested for feeding, housing and processing them was the right and humanitarian thing to do.  Mentioned, too, was the fact that we should be cautious about releasing anyone who crosses into the United States illegally with only a promise to return for court hearings at a later date.

                Last week we were informed by White House spokesman Josh Earnest that most immigrant children crossing illegally from Central America would be sent back home.  He was quoted as saying, "Based on what we know about these cases, it is unlikely that most of these kids will qualify for humanitarian relief … and what that means is they will not have a legal basis for remaining in this country and will be returned."

                Two days later Juan Osuna, director of the Executive Office of Immigration Review at the Department of Justice told a Senate committee that about 46 percent of all children, accompanied and unaccompanied, apprehended by authorities fail to show up for hearings before immigration judges.  He also mention that the rate could even be higher.

                By law, the children are granted due process before the immigration court system to determine whether they can stay in the country legally for humanitarian reasons.  They must be held in the least restrictive environment.  About 95 percent are released to family or adult sponsors in the United States to await court hearings because of a court backlog. The reason cited by Osuna for the backlog was that the immigration courts are overloaded with a record 375,000 cases – the most ever.

                In a bit of a surprise, Mark Greenberg, a Health and Human Service official, told a Senate panel during a hearing last week that the administration has a policy of not checking the immigration status of the relatives who receive the children.

So, if you're releasing the children to illegal immigrant relatives, what are the chances that the adults will return to court and possibly expose themselves to court processing?

                According to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 49 million people in the United States lived in households struggling to find enough food to eat.  Nearly 16 million are children. 

                We need to continue to treat those who cross our borders in a humanitarian and caring way and decrease the backlog so that processing can occur in a timelier manner.  We must stop releasing them out on the street without documenting where they're going and who they're staying with.  A message must be sent to all those thinking about crossing into the United States illegally that you are not guaranteed an automatic, free pass to stay.

                And, we need to find a way to address the fact the 16 million children in the United States are already struggling to find enough food to eat.

                Hope won't get it done – Action will.