WOMEN AND CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND IN MEXICO.
Because of our refusal to enforce our immigration laws and greedy corporations who thrive on cheap labor. Many of those children die trying to get to their parents in this country. We have their blood on our hands. Many of those parent start new families in this country, leaving their families to fend for themselves in Mexico.
MEXICAN MIGRANT LEAVE KIDS, PROBLEMS BACK HOME.
WOMEN LEFT BEHIND
WHAT HAPPEN WHEN MEN RETURN
http://www.uwec.edu/kaldjian/1Courses/G ... Gagnon.pdf
========================================================
No Child Left Behind: New Rules for Unaccompanied Minor Illegal Aliens
By Don Barnett
November 2004
In other words, when it comes to certain illegal border crossers under the age of 18, the Department of Homeland Security is no longer responsible for enforcing immigration law.
Roughly 100,000 illegal aliens under the age of 18 are stopped at the border each year. Most of these are Mexicans traveling with relatives or other adults and are simply sent back with a voluntary return status. This return status means they may attempt to enter again without penalty. Even repeated attempts and apprehensions do not result in penalties or a bar to entry. For non-Mexican minors who are unaccompanied by an adult relative, either by plan or because DHS has placed adult family members in deportation proceedings, there is ORRs Unaccompanied Alien Children program.
On any given day, approximately 850 minors are in shelters run by ORR contractors such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Lutheran Immigration Services. This is an increase over the estimated daily count of 500-600 in U.S. government care when minors were detained by the old INS. The annual number of UACs that pass through federal custody today stands at 8,000, versus 5,000 when INS ran the program.
Since 9/11, with ORR in charge, minors stay in unsecured shelters and have considerably expanded opportunities for release into the community. This is doubtless one of many causes for the increasing numbers. ORR contractors say that numbers are up because more are crossing the border now and more are being caught. They point to worsening conditions in sending countries and increasingly severe measures taken with street children in Central America as factors in the increased numbers.
Joining Relatives
Most minors who are stopped and taken into custody at the border are joining relatives who arrived earlier. In many cases minors are caught with parents or other adult relatives who are placed in deportation proceedings with DHS, while the minor is placed in the custody of ORR. In these cases, the child, perhaps coached by lawyers and his social network in the United States, can remain in the country even if his parent is deported and wishes for his child to go with him. According to Border Patrol agents, even minors with head-to-toe MS-13 gang tattoos are handed over to ORR for eventual release to individuals who are also illegally in the country. Gang affiliation is no bar to entry, according to one contractor I spoke with, though she insisted obvious gang members had been admitted under INS rules as well.
Many, if not most, get to the border with the help of a smuggler. If caught, the UAC essentially waits until picked up by a relative in a shelter like Boystown in Miami or Southwest Key in El Paso and San Diego. These shelters are practically off-limits to DHS agents. Smugglers stopped at the border with children of all ageseven toddlersknow their charges will be conducted safely to the individual who summoned them.
Generally, individuals receiving the UAC must show kinship, but pre-arranging for a relative to step forward and claim sponsorship is the least of a smugglers concerns. Cousins and great aunts have been used for this purpose. ORR will not consider the legal status of the sponsor and does not even check to see if the sponsor is a known absconderi.e., someone who was apprehended as an illegal alien, given a date to appear in immigration court, and never showed up for the court hearing. If no relative is found, the child can be released to family friends and if there is no suitable home available, the child goes into the U.S. foster care system.
Relationship and the suitability of the sponsor are crucial. Is the person claiming relationship really a relative? Is the child being handed over to a smuggler who will then demand ransom from relatives? Is the child being handed over to be someones domestic servant? Is the relative here legally?
The last question is not considered by ORR. Answering these questions was once the responsibility of DHS personnel. Some at DHS, admittedly turf warriors from the other side on this issue, describe a reigning believe the children mentality at ORR which leads to ill-considered and hasty release of minors before these questions can be answered satisfactorily.
Summer Camp.
ORR boasts that it has doubled the release rate of the old INS for minors and greatly improved conditions for them while in federal custody. ORR coordinates with legal services providers for help establishing immigration status, contracts out psychological counseling services for troubled UACs, and contracts to shelter providers, which are more like summer camps than detention centers.
In fact, the UACs stay in shelter care is something of a teenage idyll, with movies every night at some facilities, one counselor per six children, and even horseback riding at one camp. ORR requires that its contractors maintain a written plan and periodic schedule for exposure to and participation in appropriate cultural events calculated to ensure the preservation of ethnic and religious heritage.
There have been a few cases where UACs, referred to as clients by shelter staff, simply walk out of the unsecured shelter never to be seen again. Client escape statistics are not kept.
ORRs goal is to release the minor within a month, but it often releases minors within two weeks. If the wait in custody is projected to exceed three months, the minor goes into short-term foster care. The average stay is about 45 days, but this average includes length-of-stay data from those who remain in custody for longer periods of time because they are considered dangerous.
A small percentage of those apprehendedless than 5 percentare deemed to have violent criminal backgrounds and enter secure detention centers where the wait may be longer.
Only if there is a known record of a violent crime or if the youth exhibits particularly violent behavior does the UAC enter a secure detention facility. (Disruptive behavior while in custody seems to only warrant counseling sessions.) Some crimes would not pose an obstacle to entry for a UAC or even a guarantee that the UAC will be housed in a secure facility.
ORR seldom has access to criminal records from Central American countries, given the short time frame and the fake identities used by many smuggled entrants. In fact, ORR has no expertise in background research and identity fraud and little institutional interest in pursuing it under its best interest of the child mandate
No Child Left Behind: New Rules for Unaccompanied Minor Illegal Aliens | Center for Immigration Studies
Because of our refusal to enforce our immigration laws and greedy corporations who thrive on cheap labor. Many of those children die trying to get to their parents in this country. We have their blood on our hands. Many of those parent start new families in this country, leaving their families to fend for themselves in Mexico.
MEXICAN MIGRANT LEAVE KIDS, PROBLEMS BACK HOME.
WOMEN LEFT BEHIND
WHAT HAPPEN WHEN MEN RETURN
http://www.uwec.edu/kaldjian/1Courses/G ... Gagnon.pdf
========================================================
No Child Left Behind: New Rules for Unaccompanied Minor Illegal Aliens
By Don Barnett
November 2004
In other words, when it comes to certain illegal border crossers under the age of 18, the Department of Homeland Security is no longer responsible for enforcing immigration law.
Roughly 100,000 illegal aliens under the age of 18 are stopped at the border each year. Most of these are Mexicans traveling with relatives or other adults and are simply sent back with a voluntary return status. This return status means they may attempt to enter again without penalty. Even repeated attempts and apprehensions do not result in penalties or a bar to entry. For non-Mexican minors who are unaccompanied by an adult relative, either by plan or because DHS has placed adult family members in deportation proceedings, there is ORRs Unaccompanied Alien Children program.
On any given day, approximately 850 minors are in shelters run by ORR contractors such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Lutheran Immigration Services. This is an increase over the estimated daily count of 500-600 in U.S. government care when minors were detained by the old INS. The annual number of UACs that pass through federal custody today stands at 8,000, versus 5,000 when INS ran the program.
Since 9/11, with ORR in charge, minors stay in unsecured shelters and have considerably expanded opportunities for release into the community. This is doubtless one of many causes for the increasing numbers. ORR contractors say that numbers are up because more are crossing the border now and more are being caught. They point to worsening conditions in sending countries and increasingly severe measures taken with street children in Central America as factors in the increased numbers.
Joining Relatives
Most minors who are stopped and taken into custody at the border are joining relatives who arrived earlier. In many cases minors are caught with parents or other adult relatives who are placed in deportation proceedings with DHS, while the minor is placed in the custody of ORR. In these cases, the child, perhaps coached by lawyers and his social network in the United States, can remain in the country even if his parent is deported and wishes for his child to go with him. According to Border Patrol agents, even minors with head-to-toe MS-13 gang tattoos are handed over to ORR for eventual release to individuals who are also illegally in the country. Gang affiliation is no bar to entry, according to one contractor I spoke with, though she insisted obvious gang members had been admitted under INS rules as well.
Many, if not most, get to the border with the help of a smuggler. If caught, the UAC essentially waits until picked up by a relative in a shelter like Boystown in Miami or Southwest Key in El Paso and San Diego. These shelters are practically off-limits to DHS agents. Smugglers stopped at the border with children of all ageseven toddlersknow their charges will be conducted safely to the individual who summoned them.
Generally, individuals receiving the UAC must show kinship, but pre-arranging for a relative to step forward and claim sponsorship is the least of a smugglers concerns. Cousins and great aunts have been used for this purpose. ORR will not consider the legal status of the sponsor and does not even check to see if the sponsor is a known absconderi.e., someone who was apprehended as an illegal alien, given a date to appear in immigration court, and never showed up for the court hearing. If no relative is found, the child can be released to family friends and if there is no suitable home available, the child goes into the U.S. foster care system.
Relationship and the suitability of the sponsor are crucial. Is the person claiming relationship really a relative? Is the child being handed over to a smuggler who will then demand ransom from relatives? Is the child being handed over to be someones domestic servant? Is the relative here legally?
The last question is not considered by ORR. Answering these questions was once the responsibility of DHS personnel. Some at DHS, admittedly turf warriors from the other side on this issue, describe a reigning believe the children mentality at ORR which leads to ill-considered and hasty release of minors before these questions can be answered satisfactorily.
Summer Camp.
ORR boasts that it has doubled the release rate of the old INS for minors and greatly improved conditions for them while in federal custody. ORR coordinates with legal services providers for help establishing immigration status, contracts out psychological counseling services for troubled UACs, and contracts to shelter providers, which are more like summer camps than detention centers.
In fact, the UACs stay in shelter care is something of a teenage idyll, with movies every night at some facilities, one counselor per six children, and even horseback riding at one camp. ORR requires that its contractors maintain a written plan and periodic schedule for exposure to and participation in appropriate cultural events calculated to ensure the preservation of ethnic and religious heritage.
There have been a few cases where UACs, referred to as clients by shelter staff, simply walk out of the unsecured shelter never to be seen again. Client escape statistics are not kept.
ORRs goal is to release the minor within a month, but it often releases minors within two weeks. If the wait in custody is projected to exceed three months, the minor goes into short-term foster care. The average stay is about 45 days, but this average includes length-of-stay data from those who remain in custody for longer periods of time because they are considered dangerous.
A small percentage of those apprehendedless than 5 percentare deemed to have violent criminal backgrounds and enter secure detention centers where the wait may be longer.
Only if there is a known record of a violent crime or if the youth exhibits particularly violent behavior does the UAC enter a secure detention facility. (Disruptive behavior while in custody seems to only warrant counseling sessions.) Some crimes would not pose an obstacle to entry for a UAC or even a guarantee that the UAC will be housed in a secure facility.
ORR seldom has access to criminal records from Central American countries, given the short time frame and the fake identities used by many smuggled entrants. In fact, ORR has no expertise in background research and identity fraud and little institutional interest in pursuing it under its best interest of the child mandate
No Child Left Behind: New Rules for Unaccompanied Minor Illegal Aliens | Center for Immigration Studies
