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Kevin Hannes, federal coordinating officer, FEMA

Customs and Border Protectionhad an unexpected humanitarian crisis on its hands last summer. Tens of thousands of South American children crossed the Southwest ...

Federal News Network Staff

June 18, 2015 5:28 pm

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wfedstaff | June 23, 2015 10:28 am

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Customs and Border Protection had an unexpected humanitarian crisis on its hands last summer. Tens of thousands of South American children crossed the Southwest Border. Shelters got full too quickly and it took CBP 45 to 60 days to reunite children with their families. Kevin Hannes is a federal coordinating officer at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Denton, Texas. His team set up an emergency operations center, streamlined the process for tracking cases and worked with several different agencies to hand out food and clothing. By the end of the crisis the reunion process took 10 days. Hannes is a finalist for a Service to America medal in the management excellence category. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose what happened at the border stations last summer, and why it was taking so long to get kids reunited with their families.