Immigrant children separated from their parents - "Missing children" What's really going on?

There are many articles and much misinformation circulating about the children and families being detained at the border by ICE. Let’s take a minute and discuss the facts and find out how you can help.

Here's what we know.

Children are being separated from their parents.

Early in April, Attorney General Jeff Sessions began a “zero tolerance” policy aimed at migrants crossing the border illegally and called for every undocumented immigrant to be charged with a crime. When undocumented immigrants are caught crossing the border, they are taken to a federal court, and then on to detention centers to await trial. Their children are taken from them and put into the custody of the Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (HHS/ORR).

A Customs and Border Protection official told lawmakers last week that 658 children had been separated from their parents at the border from May 6 to May 19, 2018 as the parents face charges. That’s in addition to hundreds more who were estimated to have been removed from their parents since October.

Parents will face trial and, if found guilty, could spend six months to two years in prison until they are deported. What is unclear is if these children will be reunited with their parents prior to deportation or if they remain with their sponsors until they are possibly deported.

Unaccompanied minors and minors taken away from their parents have no right to an attorney in the U.S. if they are undocumented. That means that a four-year-old would have to make their own case for asylum. Because of this new policy, we are ruining any chances these children may have to seek asylum in this country. That's probably what the Trump administration wants, but it’s not right and all asylum seekers need a fair chance at being heard in court. One Woman's story - her sons are 4 and 10 years-old.

Children lost by the Department of Health and Human Services

There are reports that the federal government has lost 1,500 children. This has understandably sparked quite a bit of outrage. What we now know is that these children are not all “lost." The Department of Health and Human Services began making calls to locate over 7,000 migrant children from October to December of 2017. Of those children, over 6,000 were still with their sponsors, some had run away, and some had relocated to live with a non-sponsor. There were 1,475 cases where HHS made just one phone call, and the sponsors did not answer.  These children were not followed up on, and many of these sponsors and children do not want to be found because of deportation concerns.  

Here is an article that breaks it down

How did this get so confusing?

What you can do:

Reach out to your elected officials. Let them know that this is an important issue to you and children should not be separated from their families. Fleeing violence, drug cartels and gangs in their native country should not be a crime. Democrats and Republicans alike are coming out against this new policy. “It’s never a good idea to separate small children from their parents,” Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) said earlier this week. “I cannot defend that, nor do I wish to.”

Simply say, “I am outraged by how our government is treating children at the border. What is my Senator/Rep doing about this?” 

• Do some research about how immigration works and understand the laws that are currently in place. https://www.informedimmigrant.com/#

• Support local immigration and charity services that help support migrants and their families. A list of local services are on this link: Kentucky Immigrants and Refugees 

• Vote! Every single vote counts. Start with your local representatives. Research and learn their stance on immigration policies and read their statements regarding the current immigration crisis. Let’s start electing candidates who have a heart and compassion. The way we can make a difference on the federal level is to start locally.

• Speak out. Use your voice on your social media. Share *reliable* articles that are offering the facts (TWW has a great blog post on how to weed out the fake articles from the real ones - HERE). If you like to write, write letters and postcards to your representatives, either opposing their views and votes regarding immigration or write and show your support to candidates who share your views. Find a local postcard party group and join in. Meet great like-minded people, have some fun and write for change.

• Keep an eye out for any local activity, such as marches or rallies regarding immigration. Make signs and show up. Voices carry in large crowds and the more people that show up in support of the children, the more changes are likely to be made. Attend events that support the integration of immigrants into the community such as this upcoming event: Global-Local Summit: A Community Discussion on Integration

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has recommended guidelines for human rights at international borders which you can read here. The reported actions our DHS is taking do not comply with these guidelines. You can contact the UN Office for Human Rights here

The ACLU is gathering signatures to petition Kevin K. McAleenan, Commissioner of United States Customs and Border Protection to stop the government from abusing immigrant children. You can find the petition here.

Amnesty International has been calling for an end to the U.S. policy of separating children at the border. Their call to action can be found at the end of this post here