Illegal immigrants flood Georgia

'We are watching it pretty carefully - we are concerned.'

The spike in illegal immigrants swarming America through its border with Mexico has left several southern U.S. states struggling to accommodate the massive influx of children and families.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), the number of illegal immigrants attempted to cross the southwest border between October 2015 and January this year more than doubled since the same time period last year.

Since last fall, 717 children and teens were transferred to sponsors in Georgia, which led the state's education committees scrambling to accommodate them.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske believes the increase in immigrants can be the setting of a new bar for future generations.

"We are watching [the border] pretty carefully - we are concerned," Kerlikowske stated. "Perhaps we are seeing a new normal with a lot of people wanting to come across that southern border into the United States."

Since the 2008 anti-human trafficking law was signed into effect by then-president George W. Bush, the government has not been allowed to immediately deport underage immigrants.

Rather than immediate deportation, juvenile immigrants are to be fed, sheltered and receive medical care until they are released to a sponsor, who is usually a relative already living in the United States.

While in their sponsor's care, the children's files undergo deportation proceedings in federal immigration courts within the state they live with their sponsors. Though some are successful in becoming American citizens, most are deported with their parents, which triggered immigration raids in Georgia.

In an interview with AJC, Kerlikowske reported more processing centers have been constructed by converting warehouses in Texas. At each center, authorities work to identify smugglers and their routs. Some officials have also been sent to Mexico to observe and train immigration authorities in an attempt to make them more secure and unified.

Though both governments tightened their security and immigration standards, Kerlikowske admitted a wall was very unlikely to solve the immigration problem.

Most attempting to enter the U.S. are searching for an escape from gang violence, to reunite with relatives, to find work and to send money home to their impoverished families. Most head straight to U.S. Border Patrol officers when they reach America in hopes of gaining permission to stay based in humanitarian reasons.

"It isn't like we have large numbers of people that we are chasing and trying to apprehend," Kerlikowske explained. "They have been told by the smuggler, 'Look for the person in a green uniform because you will be protected.'

Though Kerlikowske did not mention Trump by name, he did comment on the idea of how a simple solution to a complicated problem adds up.

"It's an incredibly complex problem. And whenever someone has a simplistic answer to a complex problem, you can pretty well bet it is wrong."

---

The California Network is the Next Wave in delivery of information and entertainment on pop culture, social trends, lifestyle, entertainment, news, politics and economics. We are hyper-focused on one audience, YOU, the connected generation. JOIN US AS WE REDEFINE AND REVOLUTIONIZE THE EVER-CHANGING MEDIA LANDSCAPE.