Tag: Unaccompanied Migrant Children

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Each year, children continue to arrive at the southern border without anyone to look after them. They’re officially called unaccompanied alien children—or UACs—but behind that label are thousands of kids trying to navigate an immigration system meant for adults.  Many are handed off to sponsors with little vetting, and some end up trafficked, working illegal jobs, or worse. The surge in vulnerable children Back in the early 2000s, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) was handling fewer than 8,000 unaccompanied kids a year. But that’s changed dramatically.  By 2022, that figure had climbed to over 128,000. The following year saw more than 113,000 children placed with sponsors across the U.S. As of Jul...