http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4505321/dulce-medinas-testimony-members-congressional-progressive-caucus
Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Congressional hearing on refugee children
Hearing by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Thank them.
http://www.c-span.org/video/?320724-1/meeting-unaccompanied-immigrant-children&live
http://www.c-span.org/video/?320724-1/meeting-unaccompanied-immigrant-children&live
Child Refugees: The consequences of the 2009 Coup in Honduras
When the Obama Administration and Hillary Clinton supported the results of the coup. See here http://antiracismdsa.blogspot.com/2009/12/murders-of-resistance-activists-in.html
If we’re going to discuss the root causes of the current Honduran refugee crisis, let’s get a few things straight.
First, the U.S. government has and continues to fund, orchestrate and support coups across Latin America.
Most Americans who know anything about Latin American history will readily highlight Guatemala in 1954, Chile in 1972 and Nicaragua in the 1980s as prime examples of the United States’ antidemocratic tendencies in the region. A few might even mention Panama in 1903 and 1989, Honduras in 1911, Haiti and the Dominican Republic under Wilson, Nicaragua in 1934, El Salvador in ’44, Cuba in ’61, Brazil in ’64, the D.R. again in ’65, Uruguay in ’73 and Venezuela in 2002.
There are countless other instances. I’ve just picked the least disputed.
Yet how many people would cite the most recent U.S.-backed coup in Latin America?
First, the U.S. government has and continues to fund, orchestrate and support coups across Latin America.
Most Americans who know anything about Latin American history will readily highlight Guatemala in 1954, Chile in 1972 and Nicaragua in the 1980s as prime examples of the United States’ antidemocratic tendencies in the region. A few might even mention Panama in 1903 and 1989, Honduras in 1911, Haiti and the Dominican Republic under Wilson, Nicaragua in 1934, El Salvador in ’44, Cuba in ’61, Brazil in ’64, the D.R. again in ’65, Uruguay in ’73 and Venezuela in 2002.
There are countless other instances. I’ve just picked the least disputed.
Yet how many people would cite the most recent U.S.-backed coup in Latin America?
Monday, July 28, 2014
Governor Perry acts like Pete Wilson
Castro to Perry: National Guard deployment 'rooted in politics'
JACOB FISCHLER | THE MONITOR FOLLOW @FISCHLERRGV | Posted: Monday, July 28, 2014 5:02 pm
U.S. Rep Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, on Monday repeated a denouncement of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s deployment of 1,000 National Guard troops to the Rio Grande Valley. And he urged the governor to “set a more positive tone” on border issues and meet with Texas' Congressional delegation to work to pass President Barack Obama’s $3.7 billion supplemental funding request to address the influx of Central American immigrants across the state’s southern border.
“[F]or too long the border has been used as a boogey man for political gain,” Castro wrote in a letter to the governor. “Whether you acknowledge it or not, many of the cities along the Texas-Mexico region are among the safest in our nation. By sensationalizing the level of crime and violence in our border communities you damage the economic potential of places like McAllen, Brownsville, Laredo and El Paso.”
Friday, July 11, 2014
8 Reasons Why U.S. Trade and Immigration Policies are Causing the Crisis
8 REASONS U.S. TRADE AND IMMIGRATION POLICIES--NOT "LAX IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT"--HAVE CAUSED MIGRATION FROM CENTRAL AMERICA
By David Bacon
In These Times, web edition, July 8, 2014
http://inthesetimes.com/article/16919/8_reasons_u.s._trade_and_immigration_policies_have_caused_migration_from_ce
In front of Oakland's Federal Building young people from immigrant youth groups protest against the detention and deportation of young migrants and families on the U.S. border, and especially against President Obama's decision to increase border enforcement and deport them more quickly.
The mass migration of children from Central America has been at the center of a political firestorm over the past few weeks. The mainstream media has run dozens of stories blaming families, especially mothers, for sending or bringing their children north from Central America. The president himself lectured them, as though they were simply bad parents. "Do not send your children to the borders," Obama said last week. "If they do make it, they'll get sent back. More importantly, they may not make it."
Meanwhile, the story is being manipulated by the Tea Party and conservative Republicans to attack Obama's executive action deferring the deportation of young people, along with any possibility he might expand it╤the demand of many immigrant rights advocates. More broadly, the Right wants to shut down any immigration reform that includes legalization, and instead is gunning for harsher enforcement measures. Even Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, commander of U.S. Southern Command, has sought to frame migration as a national security threat, calling it a "crime-terror convergence," and describing it as "an incredibly efficient network along which anything - hundreds of tons of drugs, people, terrorists, potentially weapons of mass destruction or children - can travel, so long as they can pay the fare."
By David Bacon
In These Times, web edition, July 8, 2014
http://inthesetimes.com/article/16919/8_reasons_u.s._trade_and_immigration_policies_have_caused_migration_from_ce
In front of Oakland's Federal Building young people from immigrant youth groups protest against the detention and deportation of young migrants and families on the U.S. border, and especially against President Obama's decision to increase border enforcement and deport them more quickly.
The mass migration of children from Central America has been at the center of a political firestorm over the past few weeks. The mainstream media has run dozens of stories blaming families, especially mothers, for sending or bringing their children north from Central America. The president himself lectured them, as though they were simply bad parents. "Do not send your children to the borders," Obama said last week. "If they do make it, they'll get sent back. More importantly, they may not make it."
Meanwhile, the story is being manipulated by the Tea Party and conservative Republicans to attack Obama's executive action deferring the deportation of young people, along with any possibility he might expand it╤the demand of many immigrant rights advocates. More broadly, the Right wants to shut down any immigration reform that includes legalization, and instead is gunning for harsher enforcement measures. Even Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, commander of U.S. Southern Command, has sought to frame migration as a national security threat, calling it a "crime-terror convergence," and describing it as "an incredibly efficient network along which anything - hundreds of tons of drugs, people, terrorists, potentially weapons of mass destruction or children - can travel, so long as they can pay the fare."
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Wednesday, July 09, 2014
President Obama's remarks in Texas today.
The President delivers a statement on the urgent humanitarian situation at the Southwest border.
Transcript at www.Latinorebels.com
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
Child refugees on our border
Dear President Obama: July 3, 2014
We, the undersigned immigration, civil and human rights, faith, labor, anti-violence, and community organizations, urge you to reconsider the plan to expedite the deportation of Central American children to the dangers they escaped in their home countries. The administration’s recent statements have placed far greater emphasis on deterrence of migration than on the importance of protection of children seeking safety. At a time when the region is confronted with a major humanitarian crisis, our nation cannot compromise on fundamental principles of compassion, fairness, and due process, nor on our international refugee protection obligations.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has found that almost 60 percent of children fleeing to the United States from Central America are asylum seekers.i The United States is not alone in seeing higher than normal migration flows – according to UNHCR, other countries in the region have experienced a sharp increase in the number of asylum applications filed by Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Hondurans since 2008. From 2008 to 2013, the number of such applications filed in Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Belize increased by 712 percent.
We are deeply concerned that the administration will circumvent the protections of the bipartisan Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2008 and remove the children apprehended at the border through a non-judicial process. Instead of affording these children proper screening for trafficking and persecution, as well as the opportunity to receive fair and full consideration of their legal claims before an immigration judge, the administration appears to propose to quickly deport them, without access to legal counsel, following cursory screenings that have already proven entirely inadequate to identify genuine refugee claims among Mexican children.ii
he proposed plan would appear to place at risk these existing legal protections, jeopardizing the lives of children seeking safety in the United States. Undermining due process and protection under the law is not the right answer, and certainly will not appease the criticisms of those who have been calling for more punitive and aggressive enforcement. The cost of pushing vulnerable children back into dangerous or deadly situations is simply too high.
We, the undersigned immigration, civil and human rights, faith, labor, anti-violence, and community organizations, urge you to reconsider the plan to expedite the deportation of Central American children to the dangers they escaped in their home countries. The administration’s recent statements have placed far greater emphasis on deterrence of migration than on the importance of protection of children seeking safety. At a time when the region is confronted with a major humanitarian crisis, our nation cannot compromise on fundamental principles of compassion, fairness, and due process, nor on our international refugee protection obligations.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has found that almost 60 percent of children fleeing to the United States from Central America are asylum seekers.i The United States is not alone in seeing higher than normal migration flows – according to UNHCR, other countries in the region have experienced a sharp increase in the number of asylum applications filed by Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Hondurans since 2008. From 2008 to 2013, the number of such applications filed in Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Belize increased by 712 percent.
We are deeply concerned that the administration will circumvent the protections of the bipartisan Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2008 and remove the children apprehended at the border through a non-judicial process. Instead of affording these children proper screening for trafficking and persecution, as well as the opportunity to receive fair and full consideration of their legal claims before an immigration judge, the administration appears to propose to quickly deport them, without access to legal counsel, following cursory screenings that have already proven entirely inadequate to identify genuine refugee claims among Mexican children.ii
he proposed plan would appear to place at risk these existing legal protections, jeopardizing the lives of children seeking safety in the United States. Undermining due process and protection under the law is not the right answer, and certainly will not appease the criticisms of those who have been calling for more punitive and aggressive enforcement. The cost of pushing vulnerable children back into dangerous or deadly situations is simply too high.
Monday, July 07, 2014
No Childhood Here- Why Central American Children flee
New Report Helps Explain Why Central American Children Are Leaving Their Home Countries
http://immigrationimpact.com/2014/07/01/new-report-helps-explain-why-central-american-children-are-leaving-their-home-countries/
Portside Date:
July 7, 2014
Ever since President Barack Obama described [1] the record number of minors traveling alone and crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as an “urgent humanitarian situation requiring a unified and coordinated Federal response,” the debate about how to address the unaccompanied migrant children has become increasingly heated, especially about the reasons leading them to come here. News reports and congressional hearings [2]have covered various arguments to explain the reasons behind these children’s journeys. Unfortunately, what becomes clear is that many of those arguments are not backed by any factual evidence, and, what is even worse, some are intentionally aimed at derailing the eventual overhaul of our broken immigration system.
In an attempt to help fill the knowledge gap, the American Immigration Council is releasing a study [3] today that was conducted by Elizabeth Kennedy, a Fulbright Fellow currently doing research in El Salvador on child and youth migrants returned from Mexico and the United States. Based on evidence obtained through 322 interviews with children recently returned to El Salvador, as well as conversations with journalists and local, regional, and government officials, this report sheds light on some of the structural conditions that compel minors to migrate to the United States or other countries in the region.
In essence, the report [3] highlights the intricate ways in which violence, extreme poverty, and the desire to reunite with family members, help shape these kids’ decision to migrate. According to the report, “crime, gang threats, or violence appear to be the strongest determinants for children’s decision to emigrate. When asked why they left their home, 59 percent of Salvadoran boys and 61 percent of Salvadoran girls list one of those factors as a reason for their emigration.” In El Salvador, the report shows, the issue of gang violence is a widespread phenomenon. According to the findings, gang violence appears as the primary cause of emigration in 11 of 14 of El Salvador’s departments. In the departments of Cuscatlán and Usulután for example, over 85 percent of children flee for this reason.
Violence alone, however, does not explain the phenomenon of kids’ migration in its entirety. In some regions of El Salvador, for example, extreme poverty is identified as the most common reason for why children decide to leave. In addition, about 35 percent of the minors interviewed reported family reunification as a reason for their emigration, but in many of those cases the desire to reunite with a family member in the U.S. is cited in addition to the fear of crime and violence.
Crossing the border is an immensely risky journey. Given that being smuggled into the United States can itself end in death, it stands to reason that conditions must be extremely dire for Central American parents to send their children on such a dangerous journey. In fact, the report specifically demonstrates that leaving the country is, for these children (and their families), often a last resort. Children, furthermore, are not just coming to the United States in search of protection. According to UNHCR [4], a steep rise has also been observed in the numbers of asylum requests in in the neighboring countries of Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and Mexico.
All in all, the study highlights the fact that the majority of these children are in an extremely vulnerable situation. In this context, militaristic solutions are clearly not the answer.
- See more at: http://immigrationimpact.com/2014/07/01/new-report-helps-explain-why-cen... [5] since President Barack Obama described the record number of minors traveling alone and crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as an “urgent humanitarian situation requiring a unified and coordinated Federal response,” the debate about how to address the unaccompanied migrant children has become increasingly heated, especially about the reasons leading them to come here. News reports and congressional hearings have covered various arguments to explain the reasons behind these children’s journeys. Unfortunately, what becomes clear is that many of those arguments are not backed by any factual evidence, and, what is even worse, some are intentionally aimed at derailing the eventual overhaul of our broken immigration system.
In an attempt to help fill the knowledge gap, the American Immigration Council is releasing a study today that was conducted by Elizabeth Kennedy, a Fulbright Fellow currently doing research in El Salvador on child and youth migrants returned from Mexico and the United States. Based on evidence obtained through 322 interviews with children recently returned to El Salvador, as well as conversations with journalists and local, regional, and government officials, this report sheds light on some of the structural conditions that compel minors to migrate to the United States or other countries in the region.
In essence, the report highlights the intricate ways in which violence, extreme poverty, and the desire to reunite with family members, help shape these kids’ decision to migrate. According to the report, “crime, gang threats, or violence appear to be the strongest determinants for children’s decision to emigrate. When asked why they left their home, 59 percent of Salvadoran boys and 61 percent of Salvadoran girls list one of those factors as a reason for their emigration.” In El Salvador, the report shows, the issue of gang violence is a widespread phenomenon. According to the findings, gang violence appears as the primary cause of emigration in 11 of 14 of El Salvador’s departments. In the departments of Cuscatlán and Usulután for example, over 85 percent of children flee for this reason.
Violence alone, however, does not explain the phenomenon of kids’ migration in its entirety. In some regions of El Salvador, for example, extreme poverty is identified as the most common reason for why children decide to leave. In addition, about 35 percent of the minors interviewed reported family reunification as a reason for their emigration, but in many of those cases the desire to reunite with a family member in the U.S. is cited in addition to the fear of crime and violence.
Crossing the border is an immensely risky journey. Given that being smuggled into the United States can itself end in death, it stands to reason that conditions must be extremely dire for Central American parents to send their children on such a dangerous journey. In fact, the report specifically demonstrates that leaving the country is, for these children (and their families), often a last resort. Children, furthermore, are not just coming to the United States in search of protection. According to UNHCR, a steep rise has also been observed in the numbers of asylum requests in in the neighboring countries of Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and Mexico.
All in all, the study highlights the fact that the majority of these children are in an extremely vulnerable situation. In this context, militaristic solutions are clearly not the answer.
- See more at: http://immigrationimpact.com/2014/07/01/new-report-helps-explain-why-cen... [5] since President Barack Obama described the record number of minors traveling alone and crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as an “urgent humanitarian situation requiring a unified and coordinated Federal response,” the debate about how to address the unaccompanied migrant children has become increasingly heated, especially about the reasons leading them to come here. News reports and congressional hearings have covered various arguments to explain the reasons behind these children’s journeys. Unfortunately, what becomes clear is that many of those arguments are not backed by any factual evidence, and, what is even worse, some are intentionally aimed at derailing the eventual overhaul of our broken immigration system.
In an attempt to help fill the knowledge gap, the American Immigration Council is releasing a study today that was conducted by Elizabeth Kennedy, a Fulbright Fellow currently doing research in El Salvador on child and youth migrants returned from Mexico and the United States. Based on evidence obtained through 322 interviews with children recently returned to El Salvador, as well as conversations with journalists and local, regional, and government officials, this report sheds light on some of the structural conditions that compel minors to migrate to the United States or other countries in the region.
In essence, the report highlights the intricate ways in which violence, extreme poverty, and the desire to reunite with family members, help shape these kids’ decision to migrate. According to the report, “crime, gang threats, or violence appear to be the strongest determinants for children’s decision to emigrate. When asked why they left their home, 59 percent of Salvadoran boys and 61 percent of Salvadoran girls list one of those factors as a reason for their emigration.” In El Salvador, the report shows, the issue of gang violence is a widespread phenomenon. According to the findings, gang violence appears as the primary cause of emigration in 11 of 14 of El Salvador’s departments. In the departments of Cuscatlán and Usulután for example, over 85 percent of children flee for this reason.
Violence alone, however, does not explain the phenomenon of kids’ migration in its entirety. In some regions of El Salvador, for example, extreme poverty is identified as the most common reason for why children decide to leave. In addition, about 35 percent of the minors interviewed reported family reunification as a reason for their emigration, but in many of those cases the desire to reunite with a family member in the U.S. is cited in addition to the fear of crime and violence.
Crossing the border is an immensely risky journey. Given that being smuggled into the United States can itself end in death, it stands to reason that conditions must be extremely dire for Central American parents to send their children on such a dangerous journey. In fact, the report specifically demonstrates that leaving the country is, for these children (and their families), often a last resort. Children, furthermore, are not just coming to the United States in search of protection. According to UNHCR, a steep rise has also been observed in the numbers of asylum requests in in the neighboring countries of Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and Mexico.
All in all, the study highlights the fact that the majority of these children are in an extremely vulnerable situation. In this context, militaristic solutions are clearly not the answer.
Ever since President Barack Obama described the record number of minors traveling alone and crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as an “urgent humanitarian situation requiring a unified and coordinated Federal response,” the debate about how to address the unaccompanied migrant children has become increasingly heated, especially about the reasons leading them to come here. News reports and congressional hearings have covered various arguments to explain the reasons behind these children’s journeys. Unfortunately, what becomes clear is that many of those arguments are not backed by any factual evidence, and, what is even worse, some are intentionally aimed at derailing the eventual overhaul of our broken immigration system.
In an attempt to help fill the knowledge gap, the American Immigration Council is releasing a study today that was conducted by Elizabeth Kennedy, a Fulbright Fellow currently doing research in El Salvador on child and youth migrants returned from Mexico and the United States. Based on evidence obtained through 322 interviews with children recently returned to El Salvador, as well as conversations with journalists and local, regional, and government officials, this report sheds light on some of the structural conditions that compel minors to migrate to the United States or other countries in the region.
In essence, the report highlights the intricate ways in which violence, extreme poverty, and the desire to reunite with family members, help shape these kids’ decision to migrate. According to the report, “crime, gang threats, or violence appear to be the strongest determinants for children’s decision to emigrate. When asked why they left their home, 59 percent of Salvadoran boys and 61 percent of Salvadoran girls list one of those factors as a reason for their emigration.” In El Salvador, the report shows, the issue of gang violence is a widespread phenomenon. According to the findings, gang violence appears as the primary cause of emigration in 11 of 14 of El Salvador’s departments. In the departments of Cuscatlán and Usulután for example, over 85 percent of children flee for this reason.
Violence alone, however, does not explain the phenomenon of kids’ migration in its entirety. In some regions of El Salvador, for example, extreme poverty is identified as the most common reason for why children decide to leave. In addition, about 35 percent of the minors interviewed reported family reunification as a reason for their emigration, but in many of those cases the desire to reunite with a family member in the U.S. is cited in addition to the fear of crime and violence.
Crossing the border is an immensely risky journey. Given that being smuggled into the United States can itself end in death, it stands to reason that conditions must be extremely dire for Central American parents to send their children on such a dangerous journey. In fact, the report specifically demonstrates that leaving the country is, for these children (and their families), often a last resort. Children, furthermore, are not just coming to the United States in search of protection. According to UNHCR, a steep rise has also been observed in the numbers of asylum requests in in the neighboring countries of Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and Mexico.
All in all, the study highlights the fact that the majority of these children are in an extremely vulnerable situation. In this context, militaristic solutions are clearly not the answer.
Ever since President Barack Obama described the record number of minors traveling alone and crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as an “urgent humanitarian situation requiring a unified and coordinated Federal response,” the debate about how to address the unaccompanied migrant children has become increasingly heated, especially about the reasons leading them to come here. News reports and congressional hearings have covered various arguments to explain the reasons behind these children’s journeys. Unfortunately, what becomes clear is that many of those arguments are not backed by any factual evidence, and, what is even worse, some are intentionally aimed at derailing the eventual overhaul of our broken immigration system.In an attempt to help fill the knowledge gap, the American Immigration Council is releasing a study [3] today that was conducted by Elizabeth Kennedy, a Fulbright Fellow currently doing research in El Salvador on child and youth migrants returned from Mexico and the United States. Based on evidence obtained through 322 interviews with children recently returned to El Salvador, as well as conversations with journalists and local, regional, and government officials, this report sheds light on some of the structural conditions that compel minors to migrate to the United States or other countries in the region.
In essence, the report [3] highlights the intricate ways in which violence, extreme poverty, and the desire to reunite with family members, help shape these kids’ decision to migrate. According to the report, “crime, gang threats, or violence appear to be the strongest determinants for children’s decision to emigrate. When asked why they left their home, 59 percent of Salvadoran boys and 61 percent of Salvadoran girls list one of those factors as a reason for their emigration.” In El Salvador, the report shows, the issue of gang violence is a widespread phenomenon. According to the findings, gang violence appears as the primary cause of emigration in 11 of 14 of El Salvador’s departments. In the departments of Cuscatlán and Usulután for example, over 85 percent of children flee for this reason.
Violence alone, however, does not explain the phenomenon of kids’ migration in its entirety. In some regions of El Salvador, for example, extreme poverty is identified as the most common reason for why children decide to leave. In addition, about 35 percent of the minors interviewed reported family reunification as a reason for their emigration, but in many of those cases the desire to reunite with a family member in the U.S. is cited in addition to the fear of crime and violence.
Crossing the border is an immensely risky journey. Given that being smuggled into the United States can itself end in death, it stands to reason that conditions must be extremely dire for Central American parents to send their children on such a dangerous journey. In fact, the report specifically demonstrates that leaving the country is, for these children (and their families), often a last resort. Children, furthermore, are not just coming to the United States in search of protection. According to UNHCR [4], a steep rise has also been observed in the numbers of asylum requests in in the neighboring countries of Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and Mexico.
All in all, the study highlights the fact that the majority of these children are in an extremely vulnerable situation. In this context, militaristic solutions are clearly not the answer.
- See more at: http://immigrationimpact.com/2014/07/01/new-report-helps-explain-why-cen... [5] since President Barack Obama described the record number of minors traveling alone and crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as an “urgent humanitarian situation requiring a unified and coordinated Federal response,” the debate about how to address the unaccompanied migrant children has become increasingly heated, especially about the reasons leading them to come here. News reports and congressional hearings have covered various arguments to explain the reasons behind these children’s journeys. Unfortunately, what becomes clear is that many of those arguments are not backed by any factual evidence, and, what is even worse, some are intentionally aimed at derailing the eventual overhaul of our broken immigration system.
In an attempt to help fill the knowledge gap, the American Immigration Council is releasing a study today that was conducted by Elizabeth Kennedy, a Fulbright Fellow currently doing research in El Salvador on child and youth migrants returned from Mexico and the United States. Based on evidence obtained through 322 interviews with children recently returned to El Salvador, as well as conversations with journalists and local, regional, and government officials, this report sheds light on some of the structural conditions that compel minors to migrate to the United States or other countries in the region.
In essence, the report highlights the intricate ways in which violence, extreme poverty, and the desire to reunite with family members, help shape these kids’ decision to migrate. According to the report, “crime, gang threats, or violence appear to be the strongest determinants for children’s decision to emigrate. When asked why they left their home, 59 percent of Salvadoran boys and 61 percent of Salvadoran girls list one of those factors as a reason for their emigration.” In El Salvador, the report shows, the issue of gang violence is a widespread phenomenon. According to the findings, gang violence appears as the primary cause of emigration in 11 of 14 of El Salvador’s departments. In the departments of Cuscatlán and Usulután for example, over 85 percent of children flee for this reason.
Violence alone, however, does not explain the phenomenon of kids’ migration in its entirety. In some regions of El Salvador, for example, extreme poverty is identified as the most common reason for why children decide to leave. In addition, about 35 percent of the minors interviewed reported family reunification as a reason for their emigration, but in many of those cases the desire to reunite with a family member in the U.S. is cited in addition to the fear of crime and violence.
Crossing the border is an immensely risky journey. Given that being smuggled into the United States can itself end in death, it stands to reason that conditions must be extremely dire for Central American parents to send their children on such a dangerous journey. In fact, the report specifically demonstrates that leaving the country is, for these children (and their families), often a last resort. Children, furthermore, are not just coming to the United States in search of protection. According to UNHCR, a steep rise has also been observed in the numbers of asylum requests in in the neighboring countries of Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and Mexico.
All in all, the study highlights the fact that the majority of these children are in an extremely vulnerable situation. In this context, militaristic solutions are clearly not the answer.
- See more at: http://immigrationimpact.com/2014/07/01/new-report-helps-explain-why-cen... [5] since President Barack Obama described the record number of minors traveling alone and crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as an “urgent humanitarian situation requiring a unified and coordinated Federal response,” the debate about how to address the unaccompanied migrant children has become increasingly heated, especially about the reasons leading them to come here. News reports and congressional hearings have covered various arguments to explain the reasons behind these children’s journeys. Unfortunately, what becomes clear is that many of those arguments are not backed by any factual evidence, and, what is even worse, some are intentionally aimed at derailing the eventual overhaul of our broken immigration system.
In an attempt to help fill the knowledge gap, the American Immigration Council is releasing a study today that was conducted by Elizabeth Kennedy, a Fulbright Fellow currently doing research in El Salvador on child and youth migrants returned from Mexico and the United States. Based on evidence obtained through 322 interviews with children recently returned to El Salvador, as well as conversations with journalists and local, regional, and government officials, this report sheds light on some of the structural conditions that compel minors to migrate to the United States or other countries in the region.
In essence, the report highlights the intricate ways in which violence, extreme poverty, and the desire to reunite with family members, help shape these kids’ decision to migrate. According to the report, “crime, gang threats, or violence appear to be the strongest determinants for children’s decision to emigrate. When asked why they left their home, 59 percent of Salvadoran boys and 61 percent of Salvadoran girls list one of those factors as a reason for their emigration.” In El Salvador, the report shows, the issue of gang violence is a widespread phenomenon. According to the findings, gang violence appears as the primary cause of emigration in 11 of 14 of El Salvador’s departments. In the departments of Cuscatlán and Usulután for example, over 85 percent of children flee for this reason.
Violence alone, however, does not explain the phenomenon of kids’ migration in its entirety. In some regions of El Salvador, for example, extreme poverty is identified as the most common reason for why children decide to leave. In addition, about 35 percent of the minors interviewed reported family reunification as a reason for their emigration, but in many of those cases the desire to reunite with a family member in the U.S. is cited in addition to the fear of crime and violence.
Crossing the border is an immensely risky journey. Given that being smuggled into the United States can itself end in death, it stands to reason that conditions must be extremely dire for Central American parents to send their children on such a dangerous journey. In fact, the report specifically demonstrates that leaving the country is, for these children (and their families), often a last resort. Children, furthermore, are not just coming to the United States in search of protection. According to UNHCR, a steep rise has also been observed in the numbers of asylum requests in in the neighboring countries of Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and Mexico.
All in all, the study highlights the fact that the majority of these children are in an extremely vulnerable situation. In this context, militaristic solutions are clearly not the answer.
Ever since President Barack Obama described the record number of minors traveling alone and crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as an “urgent humanitarian situation requiring a unified and coordinated Federal response,” the debate about how to address the unaccompanied migrant children has become increasingly heated, especially about the reasons leading them to come here. News reports and congressional hearings have covered various arguments to explain the reasons behind these children’s journeys. Unfortunately, what becomes clear is that many of those arguments are not backed by any factual evidence, and, what is even worse, some are intentionally aimed at derailing the eventual overhaul of our broken immigration system.
In an attempt to help fill the knowledge gap, the American Immigration Council is releasing a study today that was conducted by Elizabeth Kennedy, a Fulbright Fellow currently doing research in El Salvador on child and youth migrants returned from Mexico and the United States. Based on evidence obtained through 322 interviews with children recently returned to El Salvador, as well as conversations with journalists and local, regional, and government officials, this report sheds light on some of the structural conditions that compel minors to migrate to the United States or other countries in the region.
In essence, the report highlights the intricate ways in which violence, extreme poverty, and the desire to reunite with family members, help shape these kids’ decision to migrate. According to the report, “crime, gang threats, or violence appear to be the strongest determinants for children’s decision to emigrate. When asked why they left their home, 59 percent of Salvadoran boys and 61 percent of Salvadoran girls list one of those factors as a reason for their emigration.” In El Salvador, the report shows, the issue of gang violence is a widespread phenomenon. According to the findings, gang violence appears as the primary cause of emigration in 11 of 14 of El Salvador’s departments. In the departments of Cuscatlán and Usulután for example, over 85 percent of children flee for this reason.
Violence alone, however, does not explain the phenomenon of kids’ migration in its entirety. In some regions of El Salvador, for example, extreme poverty is identified as the most common reason for why children decide to leave. In addition, about 35 percent of the minors interviewed reported family reunification as a reason for their emigration, but in many of those cases the desire to reunite with a family member in the U.S. is cited in addition to the fear of crime and violence.
Crossing the border is an immensely risky journey. Given that being smuggled into the United States can itself end in death, it stands to reason that conditions must be extremely dire for Central American parents to send their children on such a dangerous journey. In fact, the report specifically demonstrates that leaving the country is, for these children (and their families), often a last resort. Children, furthermore, are not just coming to the United States in search of protection. According to UNHCR, a steep rise has also been observed in the numbers of asylum requests in in the neighboring countries of Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and Mexico.
All in all, the study highlights the fact that the majority of these children are in an extremely vulnerable situation. In this context, militaristic solutions are clearly not the answer.
In an attempt to help fill the knowledge gap, the American Immigration Council is releasing a study today that was conducted by Elizabeth Kennedy, a Fulbright Fellow currently doing research in El Salvador on child and youth migrants returned from Mexico and the United States. Based on evidence obtained through 322 interviews with children recently returned to El Salvador, as well as conversations with journalists and local, regional, and government officials, this report sheds light on some of the structural conditions that compel minors to migrate to the United States or other countries in the region.
Sunday, July 06, 2014
El Salvador and Murrieta
BY SUSANNE RAMIREZ DE ARELLANO
El Salvador and Murrieta
Sitting at my desk in Brooklyn, I read
with sadness and anger the news
coming out of Murrieta, California. I
watch the raw video—the
contorted grimaces of hate, the chants
of “USA, USA,” the misspelt
racism aimed at a busload of
undocumented immigrants from Central
America, mainly women and children. My
thoughts drift back 26 years
ago, when I first arrived in El
Salvador. I was taking up a position
as the Salvador Bureau Chief of United
Press International, at the
tail end of a vicious civil war.
Walking through the arrival area of the
airport, the first thing I saw
were posters everywhere of children in
crutches, children that had
lost limbs to landmines supplied by the
United States to the
Salvadoran government. Welcome to El
Salvador. I was a naive young
journalist stepping into hell.
Friday, July 04, 2014
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
How U.S. Schools are preparing for the surge of unaccompanied minor children
This piece comes to us courtesy of Education Week, where it was originally published.
As the federal government scrambles to respond to an unprecedented surge of unaccompanied minors streaming across the U.S.-Mexico border, the wave of young immigrants arriving alone from Central America has already begun to surface in communities and public schools far from the Southwest.
In Miami, a nonprofit agency that provides legal services to unaccompanied minors has served 1,600 such children since the beginning of the calendar year, the same number it served in all of 2013. Earlier this month, the Miami-Dade County school board approved Superintendent Alberto Carvalho’s request to seek additional federal funding to help the district cover the costs of educating what he called “a spike in the number of foreign-born students from Central America, specifically Honduras.”
In San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., as well as in the suburbs of Washington, educators report that the number of unaccompanied minors has been rising steadily for several months in their high schools.
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