Four Children In U.S. Border Crisis Relocated To Virgin Islands

The Office of Refuge Resettlement, in its effort to find housing for over 57,000 unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, has sent four minors to the Virgin Islands according to an announcement made on the department’s website.

Assistant commissioner for the Virgin Islands Department of Human Services said that her department was not aware that there were minors being released to sponsors in the territory, and that if they are indeed here, the children would have already gone through the territory’s health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families. See the state-by-state list here.

In the heat of the Texas Border crisis, the Department of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the Office of Refuge Resettlement, has been scrambling to find housing for the unaccompanied minors, so it comes as no surprise that sponsors were identified in the territory. The state-by-state release does not include a breakdown of child or children per Island.

The released immigrants, including those sent to the Virgin Islands, have all been placed with foster families after promising to show up at a future immigration court hearing. Foster parents for the immigrants can receive up to $7,400 a month in child support payments from the federal government.