Children are in the crosshairs of the newest debate on immigration. Since October, 52,000 have been apprehended at our border from the Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
It’s a humanitarian crisis.
Parents, desperate for their children to escape the violence and rampant poverty in their countries, are sending their offspring north. They dream of better futures for their children, and, inconceivably, are willing to risk their lives in the hopes of saving them.
Because they are children, President Obama’s recent reaction to the recent influx was cold-hearted.
Send them back, he said. They deserve no special treatment.
He has since backtracked, realizing that goes against current policy and does nothing to forward the discussion.
While we can do nothing to fix the rampant violence and corruption in Central America, we can do much here.
First off, because U.S. businesses are unwilling to cut off the pipeline to cheap labor provided by illegal immigrants we must be willing to accord these workers a pathway to citizenship.
As a country, we can’t have it both ways.
If we want their labor, we must provide. Otherwise, we are creating a second-class society, expecting these people to work and pay taxes, but not have a say in their government.
THE CHILDREN, many as young as 6 or 7, typically travel in groups. Some have maps pinned to their shirts with crude drawings of the Rio Grande.
By law, the Department of Homeland Security must take the children in and turn them over to the Department of Health of Human Services. Within a few days most are released to families living in the United States with the stipulation to appear in court at a future date. Some do; most don’t.
Last year, about 10 percent of those caught by Border Patrol were underage. By year’s end it’s expected 60,000 unaccompanied juveniles will attempt the perilous crossing. Many die at the hands of unscrupulous smugglers.
Tuesday, President Obama asked Congress to approve $3.7 billion to help equip Border Patrol with more detention sites equipped with food, beds and sanitation facilities.
