Drug Violence: Sponsors and Surge Initiative

drug violence: That marks a sharp departure from policies in place under U.S. President Barack Obama's administration, during which time tens of thousands of young people fleeing gang and drug violence in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador crossed the border and were placed with sponsors in communities nationwide, according to CTV. Sponsors - typically parents, close relatives or family friends - have been expected to care for the minors while they go to school and seek legal status in immigration court. A new surge initiative aims to dismantle human smuggling operations, including identifying and arresting the adult sponsors of unaccompanied minors who paid coyotes or other smugglers to bring the children across the U.S. border, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials confirmed Thursday. Arresting those who come forward to sponsor unaccompanied children during their immigration proceedings, often parents, is unimaginably cruel, said Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defence, a non-profit that has matched thousands of unaccompanied minors with pro bono attorneys in the last eight years. ICE officials did not respond to questions Thursday seeking details on the number of sponsors who would be targeted or already had been arrested, or what charges would be applied. Without caregivers to come forward, many of these children will languish in costly detention centres or be placed in foster care at great expense to states. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.