In the last few years, the number of arrests being made at the U.S.-Mexico border has been at a record low. Border Patrol agents have only made about 414,000 arrests in the area in the past fiscal year, compared to the record high 1.6 million in 2000, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. One reason for the lack of arrests on the United States borders? There are more children crossing than ever before.

Compared to the first ten months of 2013, the number of unaccompanied children crossing the border into the United States has more than doubled, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The problem is that with this many children coming across the border there is not enough room for them in the detainment shelters.

There has been a 106 percent increase in the number of children 17 and younger crossing the border from the 2013 fiscal year to the 2014 fiscal year to date, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Many of these children have traveled a long way to come to America with very little money — if they have any money at all — to either meet parents that are already in the United States waiting for them or to come to our country to start a new life for themselves. It is a shame that after such a hard journey, especially for a young child, that many people in the United States think that these children should be turned away. The chance of them making it back to their home country is slim, and the chance that they will be able to find their family once they get there is even more slim.

The government has taken control of 57,000 children who have crossed the border into the United States from countries such as Honduras and El Salvador. According to government officials, many are trying to escape extreme poverty and gang violence. At least 139 of these children have been sent to Iowa to receive care, according to a report by the Des Moines Register.

Once the children are in the country, they are usually cared for by the Department of Health and Human Services, which is in charge of coordinating their care and making sure they have a safe place to stay. Iowa should embrace the children who are coming here. America is a melting pot of people from all different countries, so these children deserve to have the chance to grow up in the land of opportunity. 

The border should have tighter security, and something needs to be done about the increase of illegal immigration, but as for the children who are here now, it is our job to take care of them. It is not as simple as sending a child under the age of 12 back to their home country and praying that they make it there alive and eventually find their families in their poverty stricken counties.

We must all remember that although illegal, these are still children without their parents and they need to be cared for as long as they are in the United States.