(WASHINGTON TIMES) Nearly two-thirds of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children requesting asylum this year have had their initial applications approved, the House Judiciary Committee reported Friday in data that suggests those kids surging across the border who ask to stay will likely be able to gain admission to the U.S.
The numbers show both that the U.S. government generally believes the children are fleeing dangerous conditions that they cannot return to, and signals that it will be far tougher to deport most of the children.
According to the Judiciary Committee’s numbers, 65 percent of unaccompanied children’s asylum applications are approved by the initial asylum officer so far in 2014. Even those who are refused can ask for an appeal, which means the total number who end up staying, with government permission, is likely to be higher.