Illegal refugees pouring across the US-Mexico border to fulfil the American dream is not a new phenomenon. However, recent occurrence alarmed the whole nation as thousands of unaccompanied Central American children refugees jeopardize their lives to seek refuge in the borders.
According to US Customs and Border Protection’s data, the number of “unaccompanied alien children” encountered in the southwest border, specifically in the Rio Grande Valley, has disturbingly increased from 19,418 in 2009 to 67,339 in 2014. It has become an international humanitarian crisis desperately in need of a solution.
These children are escaping from the drastic situation they’re facing in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala- the Central America’s “Northern Triangle.” All of them want to flee from abuse, violence, persecution from these countries that are teeming with crime, corruption, endemic poverty and human trafficking. Some of them want to connect with family members already living in the United States and most of them seek work to support themselves, their family or their own children back home. All of them are transported by illegal smugglers. (Roubein, 2014)
Upon arriving, these children are detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). CBP hold rooms are usually not equipped to take care of children so they’re transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Division of Children’s Services (ORR/DCS). But before the children reach a shelter to await a hearing, they must make another journey through a complex and trying Border Patrol processing system.
Thinking they’re finally safe from abuse, there were reports that prove that those who were able to reach the borders and were placed in detention centers are suffering from lack of basic services and are being maltreated by some border patrol officers.
These issues are now prompting concerns among lawmakers to find solutions on what to do with the children, where to temporarily house them and whether or not the U.S. government can afford to care for them.
Although concern on minors crossing the borders is just a part of a bigger problem on border control and immigration, it depicts the worsening issue and calls for the government, and the president himself to make immediate action to solve the problem.
Despite the efforts of the Border Patrol to dissuade illegal migrants from crossing the border without authorization, they keep on coming and repeating their offenses. In 2012 alone, out of the 364,768 apprehended immigrants by the U.S. Border Patrol, 100, 735 have already been apprehended twice. 21,694 of these have already been caught six times or more. There were even border crossers who were caught 60 times.
Why do these people risk their lives so many times just to cross the border? How can this diaspora be stopped or lessened? To be able to determine the solution to border crisis, we must first understand the history and the root cause of the problem of why people are risking their lives just to get a chance to live the “American Dream”.
