President Calls for Interagency Group
to Address Unaccompanied Child Immigration
President Obama issued a memorandum in early June calling for a unified and coordinated
U.S. government response to the influx of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) across the U.S.
southwest border. The presidential memorandum was directed to heads of executive branch
departments and agencies, and calls for the formation of an interagency Unified Coordination
Group to ensure unity of effort in responding to the humanitarian aspects of the UAC situation.
Obama chose Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to establish the Unified
Coordination Group, and Johnson chose Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator
Craig Fugate to coordinate the group of agencies. The Unified Coordination Group will include
representatives from the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, State,
and Defense, as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, the General Services Administration, and the Federal Emergency Management
Agency. They will also work closely with the governments of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and
El Salvador to counter the recent surge in migrant children.
According to Cecilia Muñoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, the number
of UAC crossing the U.S. border has increased more than 90% compared to last year, with most of
these children coming from other Central American countries. Increasing violence in Guatemala,
El Salvador and Honduras is one of the driving forces in the increase in child migrants. IAJ
66 | Worth Noting
InterAgency Journal Vol. 5, Issue 3, Fall 2014