Just two days before Christmas, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) took the first step to prepare for a possible “surge” of unaccompanied minors in 2015. HHS posted a “Sources Sought” notice to gather information on “options for contract surge capacity to shelter and care” for children who enter the country on their own. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 placed the responsibility for such children on HHS instead of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
At this point, HHS is not estimating the number of children for which care may be needed in the coming year:
The Washington Post reported in October that Department of Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson placed the fiscal 2014 total of unaccompanied children at 68,434. After an enormous surge in the summer months, the numbers fell quickly in the fall. It is not yet clear if President Obama’s immigration actions announced in late November have had any impact on that trend.
