Treatment of Children at the Border

Something I would like to discuss for the second reaction essay is the issue of immigration and the separation of families at the border. This is unethical and far beyond the true values of America and what we (should) stand for. We are supposed to welcome people into the country, not tear families apart. Though, yes, there should be guidelines on immigration, I feel what America has done was taken far beyond reason and to the farthest extreme. 

How can America be so welcoming of a country, yet be so inhumane to the ones that want to come here? Then, there’s the point of illegal immigration. Yes, we should not have illegal immigrants in the country, but there is a proper way to address the issue. The manner in which America has been treating illegal immigrants is disheartening.

In one of my previous classes from last semester, we read an account of a woman who had her son taken away from her. She fought for the custody of her son back, but he eventually was so malnourished and neglected that he died. Not only did this break my heart, but it infuriated me. Just because the mother was an illegal immigrant (her son was considered an American citizen), she had to lose her son and sit there unwillingly while her son dies. What kind of a country are we?

When reading the statistics, that saddened me even more. I learned that “almost 2,000 children have been separated from their families at the US southern border over a six-week period during a crackdown on illegal entries, according to the Department of Homeland Security” (Holpuch & Gambino, 2018). All because of the Trump administration and their zero-tolerance policy, they don’t allow illegal immigrants in the U.S., and if caught they are subject to “criminal prosecution”; their children are titled “unaccompanied alien children” and sent to the Office of Refugee Resettlement in cages to await further action (Holpuch & Gambino, 2018). 

Thankfully, I was able to see that there was at least some sense of humanity in the government, though it was very little. The senior children’s rights counsel at Human Rights Watch Michael Garcia Bochenek stated, “Congressional hearings are the first step in accounting for and addressing the enormous harms inflicted on children and their families in holding cells at the border…senior immigration officials should take this opportunity to acknowledge these serious concerns and announce an immediate end to family separation” (HRW.org, 2020, Par. 3). This gave me some comfort, but more needs to be done. 

This needs to stop. I know this wasn’t something we covered in depth in class, but it was something that was referenced and touched on briefly and I felt it needed some more attention and discussion. It’s so disheartening and inhumane there are no words to accurately describe and encapsulate how traumatizing and awful this is. 

References

Holpuch, A., & Gambino, L. (2018, June 18). Why are families being separated at the US border? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/18/why-are-families-being-separated-at-the-us-border-explainer 

HRW.org. (2020, April 3). US: Family Separation Harming Children, Families. https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/11/us-family-separation-harming-children-families 

Further Reading

Death Detainee Report. (n.d.). U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. https://www.ice.gov/death-detainee-report

Pompa, C. (2019) Immigrant Kids Keep Dying in CBP Detention Centers, and DHS Won’t Take Accountability.  Speak Freely Blog, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), June 24, 2019. https://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-detention/immigrant-kids-keep-dying-cbp-detention