The U.S. Child Migrant Influx

An estimated sixty-three thousand unaccompanied minors, most coming from Central America, crossed the United States' southern border between October 1, 2013 and July 31, 2014, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported. The spike, representing nearly twice the number of child migrants who came during the same period the previous year, has revived a rancorous national debate on immigration policy, riled critics of President Barack Obama's proposed immigration reforms, and stretched social and legal services that receive the migrants. The phenomenon comes at a time when overall detentions of undocumented...