These Children Are Victims, Not Just Immigrants

Jennifer Podkul

Jennifer Podkul is the senior officer for the Migrant Rights and Justice Program at the Women’s Refugee Commission.

Updated July 8, 2014, 6:58 PM

The president's request for funding to address the situation at the border is a good first step, but only if the money is spent wisely.

The U.S. government has already enacted polices that treat this issue as an immigration problem, not as a humanitarian crisis. The government is collaborating with Mexican officials to stop migrants before they reach our border, and has instructed U.S. asylum officers to exercise more scrutiny and cut the number of approved persecution claims. President Obama has even suggested to Congress that important legal protections for children be rolled back to accelerate deportations.

We must think about these kids as asylum seekers, not illegal immigrants – victims of war, people who deserve our protection.

The funding request emphasizes the need for increased enforcement and detention facilities. Detention as a deterrence is not only a violation of international human rights, but it has been proved ineffective in forced displacement situations. The administration has also requested millions for a media campaign in the vain hope that showing people the risks in illegal crossings would make them decide to stay home and endure violence and suffering.

None of these misguided approaches will work. They will not prevent people who fear for their lives from seeking protection in a safer country. What these solutions do is undermine fundamental human rights and due process protections.

This is a regional humanitarian crisis that the United States must tackle as if it were in Africa or the Middle East. We should be using the same kind of vocabulary for similar crises around the world and think about these kids as asylum seekers, not illegal immigrants – victims of war, people who deserve our protection.

We support the president’s request to apply money to adjust our foreign policy and international aid to Central America, to help those governments protect their own citizens, so that the most vulnerable people will not continue to face horrific violence and a hopeless future.


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Topics: Guatamala, Immigration, border security, central america

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