“ Christians “ of the GOP : What would Jesus DO ??? Certainly not this. Please continue to display your shameless hypocrisy for the entire World to see. I don’t pretend to be perfect, but I’m certainly not smug and cruel. So congratulations.
Seriously.
7
Yes, decency seems to be in short supply among those running things in Washington these days. Leviticus 19:18 seems to have become a dead letter with them. Talk about a swamp!
3
This is wrong. They should not be hauled to jail on their 18th birthday. They should be hauled back to Guatemala.
14
Google "which country has taken in the most immigrants" and, surprisingly for the writers of this editorial, you will see that it is *us*!
10
Thanks for speaking out, editorial board. Once again, the NYT is reinforcing its reputation as America's moral compass, which is all the more important now that moral leadership at the top has almost entirely disappeared.
Things couldn't be clearer: there is absolutely NOTHING "healthy" nor "human" in this new Dep. of HHS decision.
Studies show that young adults develop stable identities through interacting with peers. Put them together with the country's worst criminals, and of course, just like what happens when you grow up in a NYC mafia environment, you start imagining that this is how the world IS.
So instead of learning how to cultivate strong moral values such as respect for yourself, respect for others (studies show that the extent to which you are able to behave in a compassionate way towards others (= noticing suffering and seeing if you can be of any help) is directly determined by the extent to which you have developed self-compassion tools and brain networks), to keep your promises, be a reliable business partner and family member, contribute to the well-being of your community and country etc. ... the Trump administration proposes to first train those young adults in how to become violent and criminal, before giving them permanent residency in the US.
Where's the logic here ... ?
Because this isn't merely inhumane, it's also really not very "skillful", to say the least ...
3
A sexual assault from thirty years ago shoild be dismissed as "boys will be boys" . but an immigrant who turns 18 should be thrown in jail for turning 18 ? I will never figure this one out.
7
As 17-year-olds they were asylum seekers. On their 18th birthdays they became criminals. And on their 19th they are sent back home!
5
What better way to feed the for profit prisons.
3
We haven't enough encarcerated people in our prison system which supports a mega billion corporate enterprise; we now have to turn toward importing age outed immigrants. Let's devote our attention to supplanting those immigrants with white collar criminals from Wall Street and corporate America. These are the true criminals, Trump, Cohen, Manafort, Kushner (Sr. and Jr.).
5
You, the ed board, start with the wrong misleading premise. It invalidates the whole load of sap.
"He hadn’t done anything wrong. "
Yes, he had. He snuck into a sovereign country, where he had neither right no business to be. At 17, he perfectly knew what he was doing. Unlike what NYT wants us to believe, Guatemalans aren't stupid and know as well as we do that they're breaking the law by sneaking over the border (I've met a few).
He's no refugee either. Mexico is considered a stable and democratic country. If he were indeed seeking an asylum, he must've applied for it in and to MEXICO.
Enough already with this 'poor persecuted little people' nonsense.
These are clever people, abusing the West's weakness and generosity in a well-calculated cynical way. E.g. THEY break our laws, but WE pay for their lawyers.
Time to drop the iron curtain. Just make sure its underside is razor sharp.
13
We just need the will and the decency.
Vote out the Trumplicans and the conservatives and the will and the decency will arrive and arise...
6
Unless you are at least partly of Native American heritage, like ME, you are completely the product of immigrants. “ Legal “ or NOT. Think about that, please.
5
I never thought I would see the day when my United States commits crimes against humanity. What is happening now is a stain on us all. The only way to remove it is to get rid of Trump, Sessions and others trying to Make America White Again. They are not Republicans, they are Racists with a capital "R."
13
If we have an issue with the letter of the law, we’re fools to write them and especially foolish for writing so many. Let’s about something there’s something to talk about.
If our policy is to vet refugees and find ways to incorporate them into productive society, it would be counter-productive to declare them criminals based on the passage of time.
But, of course, our policy is meant to detain and deport, and create a hard line to make the idea of coming here unattractive. And if it remains attractive - because home is so terrible - then too bad. Once you are a legal adult, and fewer people care about your fate, you are on your own.
I don't pretend that immigration policy is easy, anymore than political intervention in the countries that people are fleeing is especially useful.
But I do know that as a "Christian Nation" - we keep hearing that over and over as the reason we need religious freedom - as a Christian nation we'd need to apply a little bit of Christ's teachings. In that, we'd need to recognize the humanity of the people who come here, and treat them accordingly.
We fall short.
2
"...to ensure that these already vulnerable and traumatized minors won’t be subjected to abuse..." the government throws them in jail. We are truly in an alternate universe.
3
I have to be honest and say I am disgusted by most comments on this article. I thought readers of the times were at least educated and know of the United States historical intervention in all the countries south of us. The commentators talk of responsibility and law while ignoring that we are responsible for much of the mess south of the border. They ignore our theft of the states in the southwestern U.S. They ignore our intervention to topple democratically elected governments because we to not like their policies. They ignore our drug culture that feeds the violence and gang activity south of the border.
It seems many educated Americans are ignorant of our real history and believe the propaganda that is fed to our high school students. Maybe if we went to college and took a history class where the objective was not social indoctrination we would understand that we are the cause of much of the migration north.
It is time that WE take responsibility for OUR actions that have caused this mess. It would also be good if we returned to some standard of civility and human compassion.
4
The fourth estate is doing their job. now it's up to the voters of this great nation. the midterms are upon us. if we do not like the current state of our republic, vote and contact those who represent us in our government of our expectations of them. It really is that simple.
Does America really care about children, no matter what their nationality? I say no. When these migrant children turn eighteen and are automatically put in an adult jail, sometimes taken out of their detention center in the middle of the night, they understand that they are at the mercy of Health and Human Services. They understand that America is no longer a welcoming place for strangers. What does the Statue of Liberty stand for these days?
I say let's follow the money that supports these detention centers and those eighteen year old's who are taken in the dark of night to an adult jail. As this article states, $260 million is being taken from other programs to expand the detention centers. Are these centers privately owned but paid for by government funds? Who owns these detention centers? Who is making money off of the immigrant children who live in these detention centers? Someone, please investigate!
Both Christianity and Judaism teach that the stranger should be welcome because we all were once strangers in a strange land. Where would America be today if immigrants hadn't been welcome? How many of you wouldn't be here in America today?
Children are America's future, and yes, even immigrant children are our future. We must treat them humanely so they will not develop hate and bitterness toward America. Shouldn't we remind ourselves that "As ye sow, so shall you reap"?
1
Until conditions for those of us bien in this country improve this issue will not be put to rest. If you're born poor in the US you're ignored and provided with exactly nothing by the government aside from a few high interest predatory student loans. Good luck finding compassion for struggling foreigners from struggling Americans.
7
In order to spare young people this trauma and humiliation the USA must do more to prevent situations such as this from recurring , by increasing our border security with meaningful barriers and personal on duty at our current unsecured borders! Then those seeking entry can do it legally by visiting USA consulates and doing the paperwork the right way.
6
The officially statedreasons for refuge is immediate danger or persecution. Apparently Mr Ramirez did not qualify. How dare he sue our government? He has no rights to refuge and certainly didn’t need a family to sponsor him since he managed to get to our country on his own
10
It would be wonderful if gov't's of the world put the needs of their citizens first - the common good - but they don't. In this world we live in, most powerfully in the U.S., the needs of the 1% are all that really matters. What crumbs the people get are in order to quell any organized societal push-back. Our gov't - of both political sides - can't even provide it's own citizens with fairness or justice or personal security. Our kids get shot in schools, veterans are homeless, student debt cripples our young, people die because they can't get healthcare and on and on.
It would be ideal if gov't's could aid other countries for their betterment so that their people could live in safety. But they won't. It's all about greed, corruption and power. That being said, this country just can't accept 200,000 teenagers and younger, illegally entering the borders and then demanding their rights. The more lenient things get - the worse the problem will be. This way lies madness. I empathize for all people's suffering - but this isn't a solution to just keep adding more illegal immigrants to show that you're "virtuous". People in all countries - including this one - have to understand that we're all on our own - and then think long and hard about having children if we don't think we can adequately raise them and protect them on our own. That may be harsh, but it's true. It's not the world I want or think we should have - quite the opposite - but it's the reality of it.
9
Our country cannot accept all of the world’s poor escaping poverty and claiming asylum, in many cases, false claims, lest we become a third world country like those they are leaving. They should stay in their countries and protest, march and demand change from their government, the way they protest for rights here that they are not entitled to.
Americans first. This is how Trump got elected and will get elected again.
11
One can see at least two distinctive perspectives on this -- one, the view that says I have mine, why should I have to share it with someone else or allow that person to have a chance to get theirs.
Or another view that suggests the US is working hard to develop another group of would-be terrorists with a real, solid reason to hate the US government.
Personally, it exposes the lie about the land of opportunity and the ugly truths that sustain the existing haves and have nots. Not a moment to be proud of by any means. And on full display for all the world to see.
1
Placing 18 year old asylum-seekers into a broken criminal justice system is a perfect recruitment campaign for Central American gangs like MS-13.
I worked in a School Program for Incarcerated Youth and saw first hand how quickly the most vulnerable seek gang protection within a jail environment. Given the choices, I might, too.
Their food is extorted. They face physical harm. Their every movement is restricted. They’re locked in. Usually, very few people can speak their language. Worse yet, the real threat of solitary confinement.
The Trump Administration seems to be taking from Peter to pay Paul. $260 million from other programs to support locking aging out young adult migrants up as criminals. How much will be borrowed from something else to support a task force to combat the growing gang network that results from these innocent incarcerations?
The last time I checked, the 14th Amendment entitled everyone “equal protection under the law.” Doesn’t that include “due process”?
2
"There are many things wrong with this policy." This is perhaps the truest statement ever made since Trump proclaimed that hurricanes are tremendously wet.
Add this to the very, very long list of reasons why decent Americans of all political stripes should vote out this abomination of an administration and all those who enable it, whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself.
1
Shame on our government. Are we becoming a country of intolerance??
2
My country has done terrible things in the past, but the treatment of these children ranks with the worst.
1
“They deserve as much protection and support as teenagers born in this country — or in any other. We have the ways and means to provide that protection and support.”
Seriously? I think the Times Editorial Board needs a reality check. Enough with this bleeding heart, open borders nonsense that they keep pushing. With record numbers of American children living in extreme poverty and deteriorating standards of living for almost everyone except the 1%, the last thing we need is more poor desperate people in this country. We can’t even take care of our own anymore. Public schools are abysmal, social services stretched to the breaking point, and an overburdened health care system. These teenagers should be treated humanely and sent back to their home countries as soon as possible.
11
So a 17-year-old rapist (or almost-rapist) is supposed to be forgiven for a youthful indiscretion. But a 17-year-old refugee must be struck with the full force of the law. Why can we not forgive immigrants who do nothing wrong the one youthful illegal act , which harmed nobody, when we are willing to forgive someone who did a harmful act and are willing to promote hm to one of the highest offices in the nation. Something is not right.
5
Taxpayer dollars are being shoveled to private corporations whose business in incarcerating children and migrants.
Nothing will change until the money trails are visibly and loudly exposed.
If the US had not devolved into an oligarchy seeped in hypocritical religiosity, our government would be working with Central American governments to attack the poverty and crime causing this era of migration.
Nothing changes until the causes of migration are mitigated.
1
It is LEGAL to seek asylum. These are children who ran away to save their own lives. They did not break any laws--and certainly not by turning 18. Turning an eighteen-year-old over to live with violent offenders is an absurd response.
The reason they are put into prisons is because it has become a business. There are more honorable ways of treating our desperate brethren than this. If putting them in prison was taken out as an option, we would find a way.
4
All of these individuals and those who accompanied them need their claims to be heard and disposed of very quickly. If they came here from say Cuba or Venezuela they might have appropriate claims. No other countries have official reason to come to the US. Having crime, poverty, abuse by your significant others, or gang activities are not sufficient. We have all these things here in great abundance, so go home and fight against them, we might be able to assist you in that fight.
14
@vulcanalex
The criteria upon which an asylum seeker is granted official refugee status in the US is never whether there's a lot of crime/poverty in his home country, but whether in his specific case, the asylum seeker is facing death threats PERSONALLY, and whether he could get rid of these threats by moving to another place in his own country, or not.
And obviously, people coming from war-torn countries are in this kind of situation, so apart from trying to stop those wars (which our government is not always doing), we also have an obligation to give them temporary refuge.
Not doing so means destabilizing their home region even more, and as a consequence increasing the risk of a world war.
1
As a mother of a 17 year old, I find this an appalling way to treat a human being. Wilmer did nothing wrong, his application should have been processed more quickly and he had a family in PA ready to sponsor him. Kids his age should have the whole world ahead of them, not jail! To criminalise this young man and put him into jail will affect his opportunities and his well-being for the rest of his life. All because the bureaucracy cannot cope and there is money being directed to prisons because it's big business in the US for some companies. Wilmer is reduced to a commodity for the prison-industrial complex. It started in NY: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1998/12/the-prison-industri...
6
@gf I agree he should have a future, but it should be in his native country, not here. We are over populated already and he has no identified skills that we need.
14
@vulcanalex
In real life, we have one of the lowest population densities in the Western world, and like all Western countries will soon face the problem that there are too many retired Americans for working-age citizens to be able to pay their retirements.
So what do you mean more precisely by "overpopulated" here ... ?
As to someone of 18 having no working skills developed yet: if you believe that people like that don't belong here, you should support getting rid of most of America's young adults, as that's precisely the age at which they start going to college and develop professional skills, remember ... ?
"Federal law requires ICE to place children and teenagers in the least restrictive setting possible, even after they turn 18."
The Flores settlement only applies to minors under 18. The article should clarify the theory that this agreement extends to people above the age of 18 and what the cutoff should be.
"The only thing between him and freedom, then, was a little more paperwork."
What stands between him and freedom is a valid legal reason to remain in the United States since his application had not been approved.
20
@liberty
Having obtained official asylum seeking status IS the legal reason why such people are in the US, you see?
It's only once the procedure to determine whether he wil get an official refugee status or not is finished, that the question of staying here legally or not can once again be asked.
Imho you're confounding immigrants and refugees, as so many people do today (and guess who actively cultivates this kind of confusion ... ? ;-)).
2
It is an unfortunate but necessary situation that the law has to have a 'magic number' designating adulthood. The reverse of this situation, and just as silly, would be that when a person's significant other turns 18, the elder partner goes from a felon to a concerned partner.
Unless we are going to adopt some sort of sliding scale for adulthood, there is no way to change this sort of thing.
8
@mikecody
Nobody is questioning the age that designate adulthood.
The question this editorial asks is: why would it be a humane and desirable thing to do to put people whom we accepted as asylum seekers and whose background the US administration is checking, in prison as soon as they become officially adults, rather than sending them to an adult shelter?
In other words, why would it be good for them, or good for us, to put them together with a bunch of criminals, at a moment in their life when they're still learning how to socialize and do so by imitating their peers?
The Times answers: there is NO good reason AT ALL to do this. It's inhumane, it means using the force of government to actively turn people into criminals even before they are allowed official residency in the US, it punishes them although the US administration itself already determined that they did nothing wrong, and it's unworthy of a country like the US.
I don't see how any US citizen could disagree with this editorial. Do you?
3
Over the last several years our justice system has lost any shred of compassion and humanity. Whether at the municipal, state or federal level, law enforcement culture has become one that is meanspirited, cold and indifferent to human suffering.
Often those subjected to inhuman detention have not been found guilty. They are awaiting disposition of their case.
The presumption of innocence, once a sacred principle, now largely exists as a hollow notion.
Those in detention are treated as guilty. We are behaving more like a dictatorship and less like the democracy we once were.
14
@Ricardo Chavira Justice is to be "blind", having those emotional things would eliminate that type of requirement. Now for citizens we can show those things by giving them a chance to change through lowered class of punishment. For these they either qualify to stay, or go home. Almost all don't really qualify, unless you just twist the law to meet your feelings. How many millions of such should be admit? We are over populated already so my answer is zero. Allow the rule of law to decide and then deport those that don't meet it.
6
@vulcanalex
The question at the center of this editorial is: should we treat people who are in the US waiting for the outcome of their refugee status procedure and who have already been accepted to apply, humanely, or should we send them to live with our own worst criminals instead, as soon as they turn 18?
There's obviously no good reason at all to justify sending these innocent young asylum seekers to prison.
Only third world countries send asylum seekers to prison during the process of examining their case. No Western country should ever send innocent young people to jail.
When an unaccompanied minor seeks refugee status, two issues arise: whether they will be granted refugee status and whether they will be detained pending determination of their case. Turning 18 does not affect their refugee application. But it changes their detention status. This is not unreasonable. When adults and children are held in the same facility, you are asking for trouble. The rule is that when you turn 18, you’re too old for a facility holding 10 year olds. That is a reasonable policy decision.
19
@michjas
The question is: do we send young adults to shelter for adults, or do we put them together with our own worst criminals, and knowing that they aren't criminals themselves?
In other words: do we use the power of the government to actively turn them into criminals, or do we decide to keep them safe as long as we're still going through the standard procedure for any asylum seeker?
Deciding to turn them into criminals is obviously the exact opposite of a "reasonable policy decision" here.
12
These kids, as well as other asylum-seekers from Latin America, should be transferred to and permitted to live and work in Puerto Rico where language and culture are familiar to them. The island -- which, despite Trump's views, is part of the US -- has lost many people who permanently fled to the mainland after hurricanes destroyed their lives. Labor is urgently needed to rebuild and restore Puerto Rico's tourism and other businesses. Instead of spending federal money building more detention facilities, let these people have a chance to rebuild their lives.
10
@Richard Great idea as long as they work and don't get benefits and eventually go home. How about sending them to North Carolina to assist?
6
What a great idea!
1
In a few ways, this story reminds me of what happens to kids who age out of foster care. One day the state provides a safe home for you, and then when you turn 18 - you are literally out on the street and are suppose to navigate the world as an adult. It would seem that in situations where kids age out - there needs to be at least some sort of intermediary step to help them on their path (to asylum or just being an adult) ..and landing in jail or on the streets should not be that step.
19
All this is true. What also is true is that those young people were put into this predicament by those who brought them across our borders illegally, by those who encourage that illegal activity, and by those who make a great deal of noise but do little else to mitigate such unwise and illegal migration. If more were done to enhance family planning, civil order and honest employment opportunity in their homelands, then they might not be dragged into illegality.
25
Penseur: good suggestion. I hope you are doing some of that. Our government, in both Republican and Democratic administrations, seems to have been working against all those things in Latin America for at least a century, but admits no responsibility when the victims flee here. At least VOTE for people who will admit it.
1
@Penseur
Seeking asylum is not a crime.
1
Migration to the US is a big business these days. Applying for asylum has become a preferred migration tactic. We have to enact laws that counter this development. These people paid smugglers to bring them to the US. We must first begin to admit the obvious - that this is a business. Perhaps we should tie foreign aid payments to these countries to both legalizing of birth control and contraception along with formal education - especially female education we might be able to turn the page on this tragic situation.
24
@Maureen. Excellent points. The mass immigration lobby/industry is invested in bringing as many people here by as many methods as possible. We are routinely guilted into believing that because the u.s. has history of "being a nation of immigrants" or has supported unsavory regimes in the past we can have no say in who comes here or how many. A debate as to what we want the country to look like in 20-100 whatever years is long over due and the number of people is the primary determinant of that debate and what kind of country this will be.
11
I can't wrap my head around this: Homeland Security's idea of a surprise birthday party for scared young kids is to cuff 'em and chuck 'em in jail. And Health and Human Services is stealing money from public preschools and cancer research so that more kids can be warehoused until they turn 18, and Homeland Security can surprise 'em with jail on their 18th birthday.
More than 20 years ago, Joshua Aronson, Hart Blanton, and Joel Cooper published a set of studies that suggested that when folks do cruel things, they distance themselves from self-attributes impugned by the cruelty (e.g., compassion) and align themselves more closely with self-attributes that arguably make sense of it (e.g., objectivity). Moreover, aspects of their findings suggested that the perpetrators of cruel acts may also come to come to see the targets of that savagery as deserving of their punishment.
This all leads one to wonder what awful things in their past the folks in Health and Human Services and Homeland Security are trying to make sense of through their current sadism.
27
Our country cannot welcome all the poor of the world. The governments of third world countries receive millions in aid from the US every year. What are they doing with this money? Where is the accountability?
33
@Olivia
1. This is NOT about increasing the number of legal immigrants accepted each year (and by the way, look at the bipartisan comprehensive immigration bills that exist in Congress for more than a decade already, and you'll see that BOTH parties want to reduce that number, rather than increasing it). It is about HOW to treat those waiting for the outcome of the very strict immigration procedure that today is the law of the land.
2. The question asked here is: once a child has been proven to correspond to all the required legal criteria to start up such a procedure, HOW do we decide to treat them? Is it humane, compatible with our notion of justice, and in any way constructive or helping the US to put them in prison once they turn 18 and the procedure hasn't come to a final conclusion yet, or is it better both for us and for them to keep them far away from criminals and put them in adult shelters instead? The NYT here answers: no, you cannot possibly defend the idea to put them in prison once they turn 18 and the administration is still studying their case, as (1) they have done nothing wrong, they didn't commit any crime, and (2) it turns them into criminals themselves.
2. Western countries, for years already, have invested between 0.5 and 1% of their budget in foreign aid (a majority of the American people wants that to be 10%). It started after WWII, when it became clear that the best way to prevent wars is economic development. Info: foreignassistance.gov.
20
@Ana Luisa: I understand and do not disagree what you are saying. I also, however, have been quite impressed, amazed really, to learn of the great progress in raising childhood living standards and of the continuous economic growth in China, which receives no foreign aid and is maligned for the firm program of family planning and excellent childhood education that largely enabled that progress. I equally am appalled that so much of what Western countries call "foreign aid" is in reality earmarked for purchases of war weapons from their own weapons merchants. It is, let us be frank, export subsidy disguised.
@Penseur
If you go to foreignassistance.gov, or usaid.gov, you'll see that about 25% of the less than 1% of our budget is spent on foreign aid, goes to military aid.
And in order to end the colonial era form of aid, where the West decided what to do how, for years already now a new model has been introduced, where the country that provides aid and the country that receives it work in "partnerships", based on equality.
One of the consequences of this new model is that it's no longer Western companies alone that benefit from aid to poor countries, local partners do so too (apart from the fact that the aid is going to their country, that is).
So it's actually the previous model that was much more, as you correctly call it, "export subsidy disguised".
That being said, one of the advantages that China has today is that it has never been colonized, so its local economies, resources and politics haven't been devastated by decades of purely selfish Western oppression...
1
Someone needs to explain to me why the government of Guatemala allowed a child to work in the fields from the age of 7, for 10 years before he runs for the US border.
That young man can't be literate, will not function well enough in the US to advance to better jobs and may have lingering physical issues related to his time in the field.
Exactly WHY is the US expected to provide asylum in this situation?
President Obama had little talks with the leaders of Central American countries and, as the article shows, little was accomplished.
We need to give the Guatemalan government a good reason to clean up their own issues. Cutting off all US aid would be a good first step.
33
@Margo
A US government cannot possibly force all other governments in the world to treat their own citizens with respect and dignity.
And unfortunately, for a VERY long time already, each time that we thought it could benefit us, we actively - and for decades - supported dictators and killed their political opponents.
What we CAN do though, and what international law asks any country to do, is to establish a legal immigration procedure to allow those who managed to escape to get the opportunity to live a normal life outside of their country of birth. Those procedures are very strict, but it's a way to at least remain humane, as Western, wealthy countries.
And studies show that immigrants are LESS criminal and tend to work very hard, compared to US born Americans. So they pay taxes, help develop the economy, and as such contribute to the very fact that America IS the wealthiest country and biggest economy on earth today.
As to foreign aid: here's why that's absolutely crucial, not only in order to obtain/preserve world peace (= a US national security issue) but also to prevent massive exoduses to the US in future decades:
https://www.usaid.gov/documents/1862/usaid-guatemala-country-fact-sheet
14
@Margo, how does cutting of US aid insure Guatemala will "clean up their own issues?" That would mean there are even fewer resources to improve things. And how do you know this kid won't make good in America? Millions of people over decades came here with nothing, no money, no education, no family, and thrived and prospered. Apart from that, this piece is about how we treat people who are here. We treat them so badly in some cases we are guilty of international human rights violations. It's wrong and no amount of whataboutism makes it right.
9
@Ana Luisa We have one and those that are fleeing poverty, crime, abuse by spouse, gangs, etc. don't meet the requirements. There must be systematic issues from the government, none of these countries have that. So none are meeting the requirements, unfortunately we don't process them very quickly as the arrive and then reduce the backlog very quickly.
1
By all means, technically juvenile illegal aliens in America, even 17-year-olds who entered our country illegally THEN applied for asylum, should be dealt with carefully if they have not committed an act of violence. To do this with large numbers of almost-adults will require very substantial resources, but we have little choice in the matter, under the law or even for reasons of simple human decency.
However, we have no obligation to serve as a sanctuary, and indeed cannot, for every alien youth treated like a slave in failed and failing Central American countries such as Guatemala. If we’re forced to create and fund a robust system at the border to treat with such cases of youths who illegally enter our country THEN request asylum, then so be it. However, we certainly should fully-fund all efforts to keep them from entering illegally in the first place and creating the problem for us.
26
@Richard Luettgen In addition rapidly returning them will show that paying to come here does not work and thus reduce it. Deport all illegals within one week or less. Deport those that come legally within two weeks or if they qualify allow them to stay. Few if any will actually qualify, do it very quickly.
6
@Richard Luettgen
By all means, let's overhaul our entire immigration system, including enforcement, and give it the resources it needs. Are we willing to support the taxes needed to fund the resources you mention?
There's so much that looks so reasonable here - until one looks at the facts.
Asylum seekers are not criminals.
Not every youth treated like a slave in other countries comes to the US for sanctuary.
We have more than a robust system at the border to keep people out as well as a system to incarcerate or throw out people, including children, who are already in.
It is draconian, cruel, indiscriminate, and unjust.
And, my opinion here, completely contrary to American values.
Well, what used to be American values until propagandists, ideologues and demagogues starting leeching those values out of those on the right inundated by their bigoted, xenophobic, "America First" fear-mongering.
1
@Richard Luettgen But he is one youth who is already here. He is a person. He has people willing to sponsor him.
My goodness, the things that go on here while we are sleeping!
"There is no dark magic that turns teenagers into criminals on their 18th birthday, even if they were born outside the United States."
There is also no magic that enables someone to do all the following at 18, vs 17 1/2 or any other younger age: buy a lotto ticket, open a bank account, get a tattoo or piercing, enlist in the army, vote for president, get married, get a credit card, sign a contract, and a lot of other things.
There has to be some cut off between "child" and "not child."
33
@Talbot
Apparently, for you the cut off between "child" and "not child" is marked by a jail sentence funded by the theft of money meant to fund cancer research.
My boy just turned 18 and he has darkly pigmented skin by virtue of the genes that he shares with his mother. Alert our family in advance if you're, say, passing through our neck of the woods on your way to one of our many National Parks. We'll have him lay a little extra low.
2
Along with the mess of an immigration "system" we now operate under, the asylum situation is nearly as bad. We should not be locking kids up, either with or without their parents for showing up or sneaking across the border. OTOH, the u.s. can no longer be the repository of everyone in Mexico, Central America, the planet, etc that is unhappy, abused, persecuted, doesn't have a job or "just wants a better life". The supply is endless and this country is not. The forces at work in the world promoting the never ending supply of immigrants/refugees, are no longer going to be short term or solved anytime soon and the supply of humans is is exploding (80 million/year) most in countries that are not stable. The only longterm solution for them and us, is aid that promotes stability and sustainable economies in their home countries and frankly, widespread, cheap, safe, effective birth control. Moving everybody west as the u.s. and Europe are showing us not viable.
55
@Al
I agree with both your arguments. Children should be treated with decency when they are in the custody of the US. The supply of people from poor countries is orders of magnitude larger than the capacity or public will to absorb more.
The key is how did you arrive in the US. If you sneak across the border, you broke the law and should be deported. If you apply for refugee status at the border, and didn't break the law and your case should be heard.
The problem was started by past administrations that caught and released. It sent a clear message - once you sneak in, you don't need to leave. Immigration needs to be above board and controlled. When people break the law and sneak in, they have forfeited their right to be considered.
7
@Al
Your arguments are not unreasonable, but there is an omission. If the US can no longer be a "repository of everyone in Mexico, Central America, the planet, etc that is unhappy, abused, persecuted, doesn't have a job or 'just wants a better life'", then this country needs to do more about no longer being a part of the causes of the unhappiness, abuse, persecution, unemployment, and poor quality of life found in those other countries. Take, for example, the young man in this piece who worked in slave-like conditions from the age of seven in Guatemalan coffee fields. Is there a connection between his life and my desire for affordable java? I cannot say. But this and other questions about our role in the collective misery in the world deserve to be asked and answered. Walls and prisons treat symptoms. We need to work on curing the disease.
8
@totyson. There is a definite connection between American consumers ( and frankly most consumer societies) and what happens in other countries. We routinely ignore for example, what goes on in countries where we get stuff like oil and smart phones. We want cheap items and if a kid has to work for 2$/day for us to get it, we just look the other way. This has to change and eduction of us is a good start. The other, and in my view, far bigger issue is one we never talk about at the national level, and that is the glaring fact that the population of places like Mexico and Central America has gone up like 4x since 1960. America did not cause this and nothing we do will fix it even if we take everybody in, except to turn us into a northern version of those countries. We can help them, but the population of that part of the world is now ~160 million, far more than it can ever support sustainably. Until that is addressed, nothing will get better there.