Last summer 57,496 unaccompanied minors immigrated into the country, the large number of undocumented youth prompted Littlefield to consider opening a detention center for immigrants.
This summer U.S. Customs and Border Protection reporting the number of apprehended youth crossing the border has fallen by more than 50 percent. DPS troopers from across the state and from Lubbock are currently patrolling the border, monitoring the situation.
Local immigration lawyer Paola Ledesema said she saw a huge surge in cliental over the year, mostly from families in Mexico and Central America.
“Over there the situation is still bad, you can see bodies on the streets, you can see 10-year-old children being recruited by the gangs,” said Ledesma. “By seeing that most of these children and women are being still detained the influx has been going down.”
Ledesma said the concern now is getting these children out of the detention centers and reunited with families. She said the influx of children has put a stress on the immigration court system, which is dealing with a back-log of nearly 450,000 cases.
“This situation is no longer sustainable,” said Ledesma. “The problem is also that these people do not have representation.”
