The US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ migration office, which you (US taxpayers) are presently funding for the majority of its budget, has released a report predicting 60,000 illegal alien ‘kids’ will cross US borders this year.  Some will be released to relatives and others will come under the Bishops’ care.

They say the ‘kids’ are escaping lawlessness at home and they deny that push factors include a pending ‘amnesty’ or Obama’s welcoming Dreamer policies.  So because there is lawlessness around the world we are expected to welcome the kids!

This is a long article, but it is well-worth reading the entire thing for an insight into this latest phenomenon surely aided and abetted (if not entirely hatched) by the open borders lobby.

From the National Catholic Register (hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’):

60,000 Unaccompanied Minors Could Arrive in U.S. in 2014, Warns Bishops’ Report

…last November, staff from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Department of Migration and Refugee Services, the largest refugee resettlement agency in the world, organized a mission to Mexico and Central America to examine the reasons for increased number of young migrants crossing the border.

The resulting report, issued in January by the USCCB delegation led by Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, warned that an estimated 60,000 undocumented minors — referred to in U.S. law as “Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) — could arrive in this country before the close of 2014.

“The delegation found that a series of interrelated factors have contributed to this dramatic increase in migration and that a ‘perfect storm’ of a number of these root causes has coalesced to create this phenomenon,” according to the report.  [LOL! they later say that none of the perfect storm has to do with a pending amnesty or Obama’s policies!—ed]

Report: It is all about a breakdown in the rule of law where they live.  So, I guess that means it’s o.k. to break our laws too?

 Poverty, weak educational opportunities and a bleak future with no job prospects were part of the problem. The report also noted that many youngsters hoped to be reunited with family members, especially parents who may already be working in this country.

However, the most urgent reasons for the “fear and hopelessness” that spurred teenagers to embark on a harrowing journey to the United States were “generalized violence at the state and local levels and a corresponding breakdown of the rule of law.”

Numbers dramatically increasing:

The majority of unaccompanied minors are taken into custody by the U.S. border patrol, placed in a shelter and then released to relatives, with the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services providing most of the initial services.

Last year, an estimated 20,000 minors passed through the “shelter release” program run by the HHS Office of Refugee Services, almost double the number of 2012. In the first quarter for this fiscal year, 9,881 minors had already been placed in shelters, with daily costs averaging about $400 per person, according to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal.  [Taxpayer dollars pay the Bishops to take care of those not released, but articles like this one never make that clear—ed]

The USCCB and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (not mentioned here) are the two major federal contractors paid by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to take care of the ‘kids.’  We previously learned that when the kids reach the age of 18 they are free in America!

At the national level, the USCCB department of Migration and Refugee Services lobbies to improve options and services for undocumented minors, and oversees a country-wide network of mostly Church-affiliated agencies that administer foster care programs.

The USCCB also provides the kids with lawyers, according to the article.

A nod to the critics:

Critics of the federal shelter release program argue that by facilitating family reunification and providing services like free education, the shelter release program is encouraging young migrants to make a hazardous journey and to violate U.S. laws.

There would be no USCCB Office of Migration and Refugee Services without your money.

Go to page 11 of the USCCB 2012 annual report, here.

Note that out of a total revenue stream of $70.9 million, government grants and contracts were an astounding $65.9 million.  They also garnered another $3.6 million from refugee travel loans (that is your money too!).  We loan money for refugees to get to America and then the USCCB, acting as a collection agency, collects the money from the refugee and returns some portion of it to the taxpayer, but keeps a cut for its labors.

So, if my math is correct, this means that 98% of the USCCB’s immigration work is funded by YOU!  And, that would mean that 98% of lobbyist Appleby’s salary is paid by you (remember they are actively supporting amnesty legislation).   We have heard, but have never seen published officially anywhere, that the US State Department covers the entire cost of their DC office as well!

See our complete archive on ‘unaccompanied minors’ here.