According to data recently released by the Office of Refugee Settlement, the Obama administration dumped another 4,097 illegal alien kids into U.S. communities during the month of May, adding on to the 29,250 kids the government had shipped to sponsors in the United States between October and March.
Broken down, this means the federal government sent about 132 illegal alien children per day to live in American neighborhoods during the month of May.
While this might not seem like a shockingly high number, here’s another way of looking at it. Based on 2015-16 enrollment data, the average Washington, D.C. middle school holds about 550 students. So in other words, the number of illegal alien kids the federal government processed and released in May alone would max out seven Washington, D.C. middle schools.
These children are usually placed with family members already living in the U.S., regardless of the relative's immigration status.
The 33,347 kids released to U.S.-based sponsors so far this fiscal year is on track to top FY2014 levels, when 53,515 unaccompanied alien minors who’d crossed the U.S. border illegally were processed as “refugees” and allowed to stay in the United States. Over the last two and a half years, 114,702 kids have been processed and sent to U.S.-based sponsors.
It’s a rotating door into the United States that first opens at the Southwest U.S. border. In May, border agents reported apprehending another 5,669 unaccompanied minors at the U.S.-Mexico border, bringing the total number of UACs apprehended since Oct. 1 to an alarming 38,621.
So far, the total number of this year’s UAC apprehensions reflects a 69 percent increase over the number of illegal alien children apprehended during the same time frame in FY2015 (22,832 apprehensions).
** Due to an error on ORR's website, an earlier version of this story stated that ORR's most recent data ran through the month of April. This information has since been corrected to reflect the correct time frame.