The Trump administration is scouting three military bases in Texas as possible shelters for migrant children in its new get-tough plan to separate them from parents who’ll be prosecuted for illegally crossing the Mexican border.
The crackdown – under which even first-time offenders face separation – is intended to discourage others from trying to come here illegally. But separating families seems particularly draconian and inhumane.
To make matters worse, unattached children without a strong supportive network are easy targets for traffickers who prey on these kids. With an estimated 79,000 minors and young people ensnared in this illicit trade in hotspot Texas alone, the border crackdown has the potential to leave more young people vulnerable to trafficking.
The federal government has held children in a network of 100 shelters nationwide. But with the new crackdown – and those shelters already approaching capacity – the federal government is evaluating bases in El Paso, San Angelo and Abilene for additional space. The three locations would be used to hold minors under age 18 who arrive at the border without an adult as well as children who cross with their parents.
Texas already is struggling to fix a broken system that’s supposed to protect children in its care. While the federal government is responsible for the welfare of the kids picked up in illegal border crossings, holes in that system could put more vulnerable children on Texas streets.
Border-crossing children spend an average of 45 days in the government’s care until an adult relative is able to assume custody. Of the 38,000 arrests made by the Border Patrol along the Mexican border last month, 9,600 of them were classified as family units and about 4,300 were children travelling alone or unaccompanied minors.
Children are taken away from people who commit crimes every day, but this new policy’s punishment doesn’t fit the offence. There’s a big difference between committing a robbery with your kids in the back seat and illegally crossing the border with your children in tow in order to seek a better life than the one you fled.
Congress should provide comprehensive immigration reform for the 11mn unauthorised immigrants in the US, nearly 2mn of whom are in Texas. It’s particularly important to Texas as immigrants contribute mightily to the state’s economy.
Ripping children away from their parents is unacceptable, and the government could be putting them further in harm’s way. It’s disturbing that once again children are caught in the middle of this complicated mess.
Congress has been giving lip service to a fix for years. It’s time lawmakers did their jobs.