Immigration Advocacy Network Newsletter- July 2014

Humanitarian crisis at the southern border edition: background, updates, and resources

1. Advocacy Calendar
2. Background
3. Administrative Update
4. Resources

1. Advocacy Calendar

• Look for an EPPN alert next week and more items to come as the situation at the border continues to evolve
• Want to take action in support of refugees and vulnerable children right now? Visit our action center
• August Recess is one of the most important advocacy opportunities of the year. For the month of August, Congress will be home in their districts, so be sure to set up a meeting and let your decision makers know what issues you want them to tackle come September!
  • For a refresher on August recess, check out our 2013 August recess toolkit

2. Background

Since 2011, the number of unaccompanied immigrant children making the dangerous passage from Central America to the southern border has increased more than seven-fold, with arrivals expected to reach 90,000 children this year. The question at the heart of the debate in Washington, D.C. and in affected communities across the country, is why?

These children, many under the age of 12, are fleeing pervasive and inescapable violence in their home countries of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. These countries are three of the most violent countries on the planet, Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world, with El Salvador and Guatemala ranking fourth and fifth. Within these communities of diminishing protections and escalating violence, children, single women, and women heads of household with young children are the most vulnerable and are therefore prime targets for violence and exploitation by the organized crime syndicate, gangs, and security forces. In all three countries, gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and narcotraffickers commit acts of violence with near impunity, while local police forces are either unable or unwilling to offer protection to the public.  The State Department actually advises Americans against travel to Honduras or El Salvador, citing specifically the “critically high” levels of violence and inability of police to protect travelers or citizens.

The widely acknowledged tactic of targeting young children for gang recruitment, and the lack of citizen security for all civilians to seek protection or resolution when persecution or violence occurs, has triggered a regional humanitarian crisis years in the making, and has driven tens of thousands of children from their homes. Along this dangerous journey children are at risk for trafficking, extortion, rape and even death, and when they arrive in the United States they are placed in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Once children are apprehended by Customs and Border Patrol, they are held for no more than 72 hours and then placed in ORR custody where they receive child-centered care, are reunited with families or placed in foster care, and pursue their immigration claim in court. Originally designed to serve between 6,000 and 8,000 children a year, the unaccompanied children’s program in ORR will serve an estimated 90,000 children this year and more than 120,000 next year, stretching both the unaccompanied children’s program, and the refugee program as a whole, to its financial and capacity limits. 

In fact, the Office of Refugee Resettlement has already reprogrammed $94 million away from services for refugees to cover the costs of services for these vulnerable children. This loss of funding unjustly pits the needs of two vulnerable populations against one another: children arriving alone at the border and recently resettled refugees trying to start their lives anew in safety and peace in our communities. Programs that serve refugee children in schools, that help refugees secure employment, and services for elderly refugees will all see cuts this year without additional funding for the care of the children arriving from Central America.

• Learn more about unaccompanied immigrant children and The Episcopal Church’s policy recommendations via  Congressional Testimony, submitted to the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, June 25
• See the reprograming explained with one graphic , from our colleagues at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants

The crisis in Central America’s Northern Triangle, however, is not just about children but about adults and families as well. In recent weeks, tens of thousands of women with children and other family units fleeing the pervasive violence of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras have arrived in Texas and Arizona. With few resources and nowhere to go, many have been bused by federal officials to Greyhound stations in communities across the southern border, once they are released from detention with a notice to appear in immigration court at a later date.  The United States only has one family detention center because the practice of detaining families with children in jails or jail-like settings was recognized as inhumane and costly, and the system was rife with reports of ICE agents failing to meet the basic need of detained families.

When asked why they are fleeing their homes, these women and families cite violence, fear for their children, the desire to reunite with family in the United States, and lack of economic opportunity. Some in the media and in Washington, D.C. have characterized the mixed motivations for migration as a reason to seal the border, increase detention and deportation, and to remove the “magnet” of our generous immigration system, but that does not acknowledge the regional nature of this migration crisis. This outflow of people, seeking security, economic opportunity, and reunification with family members, is not just focused on the United States. Other stable countries in the region, such as Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica and Belize have reported that asylum requests from Honduran, Guatemalan, and Salvadorian nationals are up 712%. Were our immigration programs such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or asylum the “magnet,” arrivals from Nicaragua, the poorest country in Latin America and the second poorest in the hemisphere according to the CIA, would be showing similar outflows.

• Hear from migrants themselves, with this series of interviews Crossroads of hope and fear: Stories from a desert bus station, CNN

• The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona has been involved in serving migrants at bus stations around the state. Read Bishop Kirk’s update on the situation
• Bishop Doyle, Episcopal Diocese of Texas, urged Texas and the United States to address the arrivals of children, the arrivals of families, and reform of our broken immigration system with compassion, in this op-ed

3. Administrative Update

President Obama asks Congress for $2 billion to address the crisis at the southern border, pledges executive action on immigration this summer

On June 30, President Obama sent a letter to Congress, outlining proposed responses to the humanitarian crisis at the border and announcing a request for additional funding and resources. The 3 page letter does not include funding details but does  ask Congress for a statuary change that would allow the administration to deport children from Central America more quickly, detain recently arrived families, and increase funding for enforcement in sending and transit countries.  Unaccompanied children from noncontiguous countries are afforded special rights and protections under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, due to their unique vulnerabilities as children. They cannot be placed in expedited removal proceeds like adults, expedited removals happen very quickly and usually are carried out with no hearing or review by an immigration judge, and these children must be properly screened for abuse, neglect, trafficking, and other trauma. Children from Mexico are already excluded from these protections.

To roll back protections for these children raised immediate alarm within the refugee rights, children’s rights, immigration reform, and anti-trafficking communities, as did the included proposals to increase detention facilities, especially those capable of holding families, and increasing resources to secure the border and send security support to sending and transit countries. In more positive proposals, the request was made for more immigration judges and asylum officers at the border to support overburdened immigration courts. The details of this funding request, including if there is funding included for the Office of Refugee Resettlement to care for the rising number of unaccompanied immigrant children as well as refugees, will not be released until next week when Congress returns from the Fourth of July recess.

The same day, President Obama also announced his plans to take administrative action on immigration reform by the end of the summer, spurred by the inaction of the House of Representatives.  He ordered the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to move interior enforcement resources to the border and to conduct a review of the immigration system and look for positive reforms. He urged Congress to take action so that he would not have to resort to Executive Order to reform our severely broken system.

• Read the President’s full remarks here
• Mr. Obama’s Immigration Challenge, The New York Times
• A Dangerous Summer for Central American Kids, Huffington Post

6. Resources

• Read the most recent report from UNHCR on the forced migration of children from Central America: Children on the Run: Unaccompanied Children Leaving Central America and Mexico and the Need for International Protection
• The American Immigration Council also released a report on July 1^st, No Childhood Here: Why Central American Children Are Fleeing Their Homes by Elizabeth Kennedy.
• Vox has an excellent breakdown of the violence pushing children to flee, the dangers they face along the way, and the problems with the Obama Administration’s proposed solutions