Governor Fallin says it is unconscionable that the federal government places some of the undocumented minors with sponsors who themselves are in the country illegally. The Governor says often, these sponsors are relatives who themselves are illegal immigrants. The sponsor is given a date on which they are asked to return with the child to immigration court. However, only slightly more than half of the children ever return for that court date.
MARY FALLIN: “Because of the president’s amnesty policies, families in Central America are sending their children to make a dangerous journey alone across Mexico and eventually to our southern border. We know that some of those children don’t make it. They are abducted by traffickers, abused, and sometimes killed. By not getting serious about border control, and by pursuing policies that amount to amnesty, we are encouraging this dangerous journey and the atrocities that often accompany it."
Fallin says the current influx of immigrant children is unfairly burdening states and taxpayers. Minors from facilities like Fort Sill who are placed with sponsors are, under federal law, entitled to be educated in public schools.
MARY FALLIN : “Many of our public schools are already at capacity and need additional funding. Our health care system is strained as it is. Now, instead of allowing us to address those needs for Oklahomans, President Obama is forcing us to add an unspecified number of illegal immigrants to our public education and public health systems."
Fallin said she agreed that the border crisis was, in part, a humanitarian issue, but that the administration’s policies were making the humanitarian crisis worse.