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 As a new wave of unaccompanied Central American children pours
across the U.S.-Mexico border, the proposal underscores the
sometimes conflicting goals of federal agencies in dealing with
undocumented immigrants, a volatile issue on the presidential
campaign trail.
Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),
which is ultimately responsible for finding housing for migrant
children, told Reuters they have no plans to change fingerprinting
policy. They said the proposal -- made by U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in an internal memo seen by
Reuters -- would delay family reunions and infringe upon the
parent-child relationship.
"One of our goals is to place children with an appropriate sponsor
as promptly as we can safely do so. And so any delay for placing the
child with their parent is time that we're keeping a parent and
child separated," said Bobbie Gregg, deputy director for children's
services at HHS's office of refugee resettlement.
 The memo by ICE officials, drafted in response to a February Senate
hearing, proposes expanding fingerprinting, now limited to
non-parents, to include parents.
ICE says that would allow fingerprints to be checked against an FBI
database of criminals to verify the identities of people who say
they are parents while ensuring that children do not go to parents
who have criminal histories.
The proposal is preliminary and could change. It was unclear whether
it would ultimately win the backing of the White House.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) -- which oversees ICE -- and
the Justice Department advise HHS on its practices and have a role
in enforcing overall immigration policy.
The White House declined to comment on the proposal.
Asked about the documents that describe the fingerprinting proposal,
a Homeland Security spokeswoman said the agency does not discuss
internal deliberations. Neither ICE nor HHS would comment on whether
they have had discussions on the proposal.
From January 2014 to April 2015, more than 31,000 parents claimed
children who entered the United States from El Salvador, Guatemala
and Honduras, according to a study by the Government Accountability
Office (GAO), a congressional watchdog unit.
They made up 60 percent of those who claimed children, with most of
the rest claimed by other relatives. Only 161 non-relative sponsors
claimed children.
U.S. authorities are required to find housing for illegal immigrant
minors while they await a trial to determine whether they will be
deported, a process that can take years.
 Under current law, people who appear at child migrant holding
facilities saying they are parents must show the child's birth
certificate to prove the relationship. If that is not available, the
parent and child must undergo a DNA test.
Immigration advocates say the ICE proposal would discourage parents
from sending for their children and claiming them, fearing that ICE
would use fingerprinting to trace undocumented immigrants for
possible deportation.
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"It could keep parents away from their children if they think it is
going to land them in a lock-up somewhere," said David Leopold, a
Cleveland lawyer who formerly headed the American Immigration
Lawyers Association.
The ICE officials also said in the memo that the agency supports
expanding immigration-status checks to all sponsors, including
parents.
ICE acknowledged that conducting immigration checks on parents
claiming children could "reduce the likelihood that sponsors would
come forward to take custody of children."
NEW WAVE OF CHILD MIGRANTS
Illegal entry into the United States by unaccompanied minors has
surged in recent years. Most are Central American children who make
the dangerous journey across Mexico and the U.S. border without
their parents, fleeing poverty and violence.
In the six months through March 2016, almost 28,000 unaccompanied
children were apprehended crossing into the United States, close to
the record-high number hit in the same period in 2014.
(Graphic on unaccompanied minor crossings and relationships to
sponsors: http://tmsnrt.rs/1NmGQQI)
An investigation by the Associated Press in January found that HHS
had placed some migrant children in homes where they were sexually
assaulted, starved or forced into labor for no pay. None of the
known abusers had claimed to be parents.
A Senate panel in February asked authorities to improve screening of
adults claiming custody of child migrants.
The document from ICE is a draft of answers to questions Senate
Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley submitted for the record
following the hearing.
After the AP investigation, HHS said it began doing 30-day follow-up
checks on households to which it had assigned a child, while also
giving an emergency hotline phone number to all children before they
are discharged from HHS custody
But ICE's response to Grassley said HHS should go a step further,
noting that many state and local child protective service agencies
routinely fingerprint parents who reclaim children after periods of
separation.
(Reporting by Julia Edwards; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Stuart
Grudgings.)
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