IMMIGRATION-All those supporters of immigration reform may be in for a rude awakening. The recent influx of unaccompanied minors crossing the Mexican border into this country is creating major problems not only for the Obama administration but also for many of the relatives of the youngsters … and for the proponents of immigration reform.
There is already talk that this situation could cause Congress to reconsider passing any kind of immigration reform this year or for years to come for that matter. This isn’t the first time that unaccompanied minors have travelled thousands of miles for a better life in America but this time it’s different.
Their numbers are expected to reach 60,000 this year and the age of the children ranges anywhere from as young as two years old to 17 years of age.
The youngsters, many of whom come to this country to join their parents who themselves came to the U.S. without legal documentation are at the center of this upsurge. Why are they coming and in such record high numbers?
There are fingers being pointed in every direction but mostly directed at the Obama Administration for supporting a policy that allows children who were brought to this country by their parents without legal documents to stay without fear of being deported.
To this end, its speculated that the unusually high number of children entering illegally is because more and more parents who came here illegally are themselves calling for their children to join them.
Certainly this could be one reason, but if you hear the stories from the children, they will tell you that poverty is their biggest motive.
They come to work. Add to that, their escape from the increasingly and dangerous drug inspired violence along with the aggressive recruitment by gangs of young boys and girls throughout mostly South and Central America.
One can reason why the children are crossing the Mexican borders in record numbers, but we don’t want to miss the key point and that is the danger associated with their travel to America.
There are stories of young children being sexually and physically abused by the coyotes who are paid thousands of dollar to help get them across the American southwest border.
Some are unwittingly thrown into the slave trade while others lose their lives along the way. In one instance, a 12 year old girl who had been raised by her grandparents in Ecuador was recently found hanged from a shower curtain rod at a Mexican shelter for unaccompanied minors.
As the story goes, young Noemi Álvarez Quillay was happy living with her grandparents regardless but her parents who live illegally in the Bronx insisted she join them.
Reluctantly, her grandfather put young Noemi on a bus in a small village outside Quito where she would later join a coyote who would help her reach her parents. Unfortunately, Noemi was picked up by the police along with her coyote in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
A few days later, she was dead. It goes without saying that this is no party but is a game of very high risks for youngsters who only want to join their loved ones, or to find work or to escape a never ending life of poverty and violence.
The United States government by law must respond to the welfare and security needs of the unaccompanied minors and the Departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security are the two major departments responsible for administering such policy.
When I served as Director of the Community Rations at the Department of Justice during the 1980’s my agency was responsible for providing shelter for unaccompanied minors.
Back then the number of unaccompanied minors wasn’t anywhere close to the rising numbers of today but so many of the issues were the same and the question for the government was, as it is today, how do we protect these children?
The Obama Administration is working with various organizations throughout the country to do just that. One such organization is a non-profit out of Austin, Texas, named the Southwest Key Program whose founder and president Juan Sanchez has proven over 20 years to be a leader in providing shelter for detained children.
Currently, the Southwest Key Program has added five to their existing 25 shelters in view of the high number of children crossing the Mexican border. There are many good people such as Sanchez that are experts in doing the right thing in answering the federal government’s call for assistance.
Interestingly, the head of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson recently declared “A level-four condition of readiness” in the Rio Grande Valley and one of his ways to control the flow is by beginning a publicity campaign to discourage youths from coming to America.
That is akin to presidential candidate Mitt Romney saying that those illegally in this country should self-deport. Ain’t gonna happen. So long as poverty, crime and violence are at the front door of our neighbors south of the border they are going to continue to come.
There are many ways for government to engage in solving this issue with other governments but for now, we have a crisis on our hands and the only way to handle it is in a humanitarian and dignified manner – after all that is what America has done for so many others who came to America to seek a better life.
For once, the political bureaucracy has the opportunity to shine since it’s unlikely this issue will be resolved politically or otherwise any time soon.
(Grace Flores-Hughes served as Director of Community Relations at the Department of Justice. This perspective was posted most recently at voxxi.com)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 47
Pub: June 10, 2014