Children on the Run: U.S. Detains Thousands of Young Migrants Seeking Safety IN HORIBLE CONDITIONS
TOPICS
GUESTS
Sonia Nazario, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother.
Jose Luis Zelaya, fled his home in Honduras at the age of 13 in search of his mother. He traveled unaccompanied through Central America and finally reached Houston, Texas, four months later. He’s currently a Ph.D. student a Texas A&M in the Department of Education. Zelaya is part of the Council for Minority Student Affairs at Texas A&M and a member of the immigrant rights group United We Dream.
DONATE →
This is viewer supported news
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports over 47,000 unaccompanied children have been detained so far this year after crossing the border, almost double the number for all of 2013 and almost five times the number from 2009. President Obama has described the situation as a "humanitarian crisis." Some of the children have been detained in shocking conditions. Over 1,000 children are reportedly being held at a warehouse in Nogales, Arizona, some sleeping in plastic containers. We speak to Jose Luis Zelaya, who fled Honduras in 2000 at the age of 13 in search of his mother. He traveled unaccompanied through Central America and finally reached Texas four months later. Zelaya is now a Ph.D. student at Texas A&M in the Department of Education. We also speak to Sonia Nazario in Los Angeles, California. She is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of "Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: A coalition of immigration and civil rights groups has filed a complaint alleging widespread and systemic abuse of migrant children by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Organizations including the National Immigrant Justice Center and the ACLU say they’re acting on behalf of over 100 unaccompanied children mistreated by border agents after crossing into the United States. So far in 2014, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports over 47,000 unaccompanied children have been detained after crossing the border, almost double the number for all of 2013, almost five times the number from 2009. President Obama has described the situation as a "humanitarian crisis."
A number of the children have been detained in shocking conditions. Over a thousand children are reportedly being held at a warehouse in Nogales, Arizona, some sleeping in plastic containers. On Thursday, The Washington Post posted video showing makeshift holding areas for detained migrants at the McAllen, Texas, Border Patrol station. The video shows dozens of women and children sprawled on concrete floors.
Earlier this week, Democracy Now!’s Nermeen Shaikh and I spoke to two guests about the plight of these migrant children. In Houston, Jose Luis Zelaya, who fled Honduras in 2000 at the age of 13 in search of his mother—he traveled unaccompanied through Central America and finally reached Texas four months later. Zelaya is now a Ph.D. student at Texas A&M in the Department of Education, part of the Council for Minority Student Affairs at Texas A&M and a member of the immigrant rights group United We Dream.
We also spoke to Sonia Nazario in Los Angeles. She is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author of Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother. I started by asking Sonia Nazario about the number of migrant children being warehoused in United States right now.
SONIA NAZARIO: Well, this surge, as it’s called, really started in 2011. We’ve seen over the last three years a tenfold increase in the number of children coming here unaccompanied, unlawfully and being placed in federal custody. And that doesn’t even count the Mexican children, nearly 20,000 of those additionally, who are deported within 24 or 48 hours. These are mostly children from Central America, from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and there’s just been this enormous surge. Last month, in one day, we saw a thousand children placed in federal custody, and, on average, 400 children are arriving every single day. And again, the federal government has seen itself completely unprepared for this surge, which, you know, two years ago we had a surge, and they opened Lackland Air Force Base for a couple of months and got caught with their pants down, and now again we’re seeing the same problem.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Sonia Nazario, you’ve actually characterized this problem as a refugee crisis. What do you think the federal government should be doing to cope with these numbers of children migrants coming to the U.S.?
SHOW FULL TRANSCRIPT ›
No comments:
Post a Comment