R ecent reports regarding an uptick in the number of alien minors apprehended at the U.S. border without a parent or legal guardian have prompted renewed questions regarding so-called unaccompanied alien children (UACs). Many of these questions were previously raised in FY2013-FY2014, when a significant number of UACs were apprehended along the southern U.S. border. Although the number of UAC apprehensions dropped in FY2015, the beginning of FY2016 has seen an increase in the number of UACs apprehended along the southern border in comparison to the same time period in the prior year. Some of these questions pertain to the numbers of children involved, their reasons for coming to the United States, and current and potential responses of the federal government and other entities to their arrival. Other questions concern the interpretation and interplay of various federal statutes and regulations, administrative and judicial decisions, and settlement agreements pertaining to alien minors. This report addresses the latter questions, providing general and relatively brief answers to 15 frequently asked questions regarding UACs. In particular, this report begins with questions and answers that give basic definitions and background information pertaining to UACs, including how federal law defines unaccompanied alien child and the difference between being a UAC and having Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status. It then turns to questions and answers pertaining to custody, control, and enforcement of immigration laws as to UACs, such as federal agencies' responsibilities in maintaining custody of UACs, and UACs' eligibility for relief from removal. It concludes with questions and answers regarding UACs' rights, privileges, and benefits while in the United States, including whether UACs have a right to counsel at the government's expense in removal proceedings and whether UACs are eligible for inclusion in the Obama Administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. Other CRS reports address the pre-FY2015 surge in the number of UACs encountered at the U.S. border with Mexico, as well as how UACs who are apprehended by immigration officials are processed and treated. These include CRS Report R43599, Unaccompanied Alien Children: An Overview , by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed]; CRS Report R43628, Unaccompanied Alien Children: Potential Factors Contributing to Recent Immigration , coordinated by [author name scrubbed]; CRS Report R43734, Unaccompanied Alien Children: Demographics in Brief , by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed]; CRS Insight IN10107, Unaccompanied Alien Children: A Processing Flow Chart , by [author name scrubbed]; and CRS Report R43664, Asylum Policies for Unaccompanied Children Compared with Expedited Removal Policies for Unauthorized Adults: In Brief , by [author name scrubbed]. Yet other CRS reports discuss the circumstances in foreign countries that some see as contributing to UACs' unauthorized migration to the United States. These include CRS Report R43702, Unaccompanied Children from Central America: Foreign Policy Considerations , coordinated by [author name scrubbed]; CRS Report R41731, Central America Regional Security Initiative: Background and Policy Issues for Congress , by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed]; CRS Report RL34112, Gangs in Central America , by [author name scrubbed]; CRS Report R43616, El Salvador: Background and U.S. Relations , by [author name scrubbed]; CRS Report R42580, Guatemala: Political, Security, and Socio-Economic Conditions and U.S. Relations , by [author name scrubbed]; and CRS Report RL34027, Honduras: Background and U.S. Relations , by [author name scrubbed]. Pursuant to Section 462 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as amended, an unaccompanied alien child , is defined as a person who: is under the age of 18; lacks lawful immigration status; and either (1) has no parent or legal guardian in the United States or (2) has no parent or legal guardian in the country who is available to provide care and physical custody of the child. Accordingly, not every minor without lawful immigration status is a UAC. Notably, if a child and parent without lawful immigration status are apprehended by immigration authorities and detained together while awaiting removal, the child is not considered a UAC. Moreover, the fact that a child is initially a UAC does not necessarily mean that he/she will remain within the scope of this definition thereafter (e.g., the child is reunited with a parent, or turns 18). In practice, however, federal officials seem to have historically based their determinations as to whether a child is unaccompanied upon the child's circumstances at and in the hours immediately following the child's apprehension. If a child is not apprehended with a parent or guardian, or cannot be reunited with a parent or guardian within a matter of hours, the child is generally treated as a UAC for purposes of the transfer from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) custody to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) custody, as discussed below, regardless of whether the child has a parent or parents in the United States with whom he/she could eventually be reunited. On account of policy considerations, DHS sometimes opts not to review or reconsider its initial UAC determination. Moreover, once a UAC designation has been made by DHS, HHS's ability to independently reconsider that determination may be statutorily constrained to the extent it requires a reassessment of the child's immigration status. Legislation introduced in the 113 th and 114 th Congresses would mandate a somewhat different approach, expressly providing for children to cease being treated as UACs as soon as a "parent, legal guardian, sibling over 18 years of age, aunt, uncle, grandparent, or cousin over 18 years of age of the alien is found in the United States and is available to provide care and physical custody." Some—but not necessarily all—UACs may be eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status. As previously noted (see " What is an unaccompanied alien child? "), the term unaccompanied alien child is broadly defined to include aliens under the age of 18 who have no parent or legal guardian in the United States, or whose parent or legal guardian is unavailable to provide care and physical custody. Eligibility for SIJ status under Section 101(a)(27)(J) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and its implementing regulations is also limited to aliens who are young (under 21 years of age) and essentially lack the care or custody of their parents or legal guardians. However, eligibility for SIJ status is further restricted to aliens (1) who have been declared dependent on a U.S. juvenile court, or whom such a court has legally committed to, or placed under the custody of, a state agency or department or other state- or court-appointed individual or entity, and (2) whose reunification with "1 or both ... parents is not viable due to abuse, neglect, abandonment, or a similar basis found under State law." In addition, administrative or judicial proceedings must have determined that it would not be "in the alien's best interest" to be returned to his or her previous country of nationality or last habitual residence, and the Secretary of Homeland Security must consent to the granting of SIJ status. DHS regulations contain some additional restrictions upon eligibility (e.g., that the alien's dependency on the court arises because "family reunification is no longer a viable option" due to abuse, neglect, abandonment, or "a similar basis found under State law"). However, these regulations have not been amended since Section 101(a)(27)(J) of the INA was amended in 2008, and it is unclear whether they are to be seen as legally binding upon the agency at present. SIJ status, in itself, gives aliens a legal basis to remain in the United States and adjust their status to that of lawful permanent resident aliens (LPRs), which, in turn, would eventually enable them to apply for U.S. citizenship. Specifically, Section 245 of the INA provides that aliens granted SIJ status are deemed to have been paroled—a term discussed in greater detail below at " Why aren't UACs encountered at ports of entry turned away as inadmissible? "—into the United States and may apply for LPR status. Being classified as a UAC, in contrast, does not, in itself, furnish any legal basis to remain in the United States or to adjust to LPR status. However, an individual UAC could potentially be eligible for certain forms of relief from removal, depending upon his or her particular circumstances. See " Are children without immigration status eligible for relief from removal? " and " Can UACs obtain asylum due to gang violence in their home countries? ." The Flores settlement agreement (also known as the Flores agreement or Flores settlement) is a 1997 agreement resolving a long-running challenge to certain practices of the then-Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) as to the detention of UACs. The Flores litigation began in 1984, when INS's Western Regional Office adopted a policy that generally barred the release of detained minors to anyone other than a parent or lawful guardian except in "unusual and extraordinary cases." This policy was challenged in a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of detained unaccompanied minors. Following several lower court decisions, the litigation reached the Supreme Court, which rejected a facial challenge to the constitutionality of this policy in its 1993 decision in Flores v. Reno .