Regular readers know that the Office of Refugee Resettlement has an ever-expanding role in taking care of illegal alien kids who get into the US without parents (or whose parents ‘abandon’ them once they cross the border).

The minors may be up to the age of 18 as we learned in the curious criminal case of Galveston “George” here who was basically set free in America once he reached that magical milestone.

A new report says the number of kids in detention and under the care of ORR is growing exponentially and that in some cases their living conditions stink (so send more money!).

The Women’s Refugee Commission* says that violence south of the border is driving kids to come to America.  The Federation for American Immigration Reform disagrees and says that the Obama policy of letting kids stay, go to school and get work visas is serving as a magnet drawing the ‘youths’ to America.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Gang violence in Central America has led to a startling increase in the number of children who make the dangerous journey across the Mexican border alone in search of asylum in the United States, according to a report by the Women’s Refugee Commission, a nonprofit that advocates for displaced women and children.

The number of unaccompanied migrant children in U.S. detention centers grew nearly 50%, from 6,854 in fiscal 2011 to more than 10,000 in the nine-month period ended June 30, according to federal statistics cited in the report, titled “Forced From Home: The Lost Boys and Girls of Central America.” With three months left in the latest reporting period, the fiscal 2012 figures are expected to rise further.

[…..]

Most of the growth came from three countries: El Salvador, with 68% more unaccompanied minors; Guatemala, with 72% more; and Honduras, with the number more than doubling, from 1,201 to 2,477. The number of Mexican children crossing the border alone fell in the same period.

[…..]

The children travel on their own because their parents are already in the U.S., because they are fleeing domestic violence or because the family cannot undertake the journey together, said advocates who work with them.

ORR doing a lousy job say the “women:”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, along with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, were criticized in the report for operating substandard detention facilities. Officials from the two agencies were unavailable for comment.

FAIR:  Obama created a magnet!  They are coming for their taxpayer-funded goodies and their work visas.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, an anti-immigration group, blamed the influx of Central American children on a new federal program granting a two-year reprieve from deportation to some young immigrants.

“The Obama administration has made it very clear — if you get your kids to the U.S. and keep them here for a while, they can stay,” said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the group. “That’s the unmistakable message he’s sent around the world. Not surprisingly, you have parents who say, ‘Let’s do that.'”

Other countries are responsible for ensuring the safety of their own citizens, Mehlman added. Asylum should be reserved for a select few cases, or “the potential is you could have billions of people qualifying for political asylum in the U.S.”

By the way, we learned here that the growing cost of caring for the illegal minors is cutting into funds normally allocated to counties which have been overloaded with refugees in the primary resettlement program run by the ORR. It’s my opinion that this report is designed as a PR gimmick to pressure Congress into appropriating more money from Congress for the suffering kids (and the contractors!).

* The Women’s Refugee Commission is an offshoot of the largest federal refugee contractor the International Rescue Committee (IRC).  They are just looking to get more federal tax dollars.   George Soros was on the board of the IRC at one point and he probably taught them how to set up all sorts of groups to make it look like there are tons of people interested in the problem.  Coincidentally (not!), Samantha Power also sat on the board of the IRC.