July 8, 2014
How to Stop the Surge of Migrant Children
Introduction
Children slept last month in a holding cell at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility in Brownsville, Tex. Pool photo by Eric GayPresident Obama is asking Congress for emergency funding as the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S.-Mexico border rises at an alarming rate. Fleeing poverty and gang violence, motivated in part by rumors that they will gain legal status but now trapped in a legal limbo, many of the young migrants are making the dangerous journey from Central America.
What can be done to stem the surge of children illegally crossing into the U.S.? And how does this crisis fit into the larger debate for comprehensive immigration reform?
Read the Discussion »Debaters
-
Enforce the Law Before Rewriting It
This crisis of unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S. border is proof that lax enforcement and talk of amnesty only bring more illegal immigration.
-
Show Fairness and Due Process
The U.S. government has a legal obligation to offer every unaccompanied child the opportunity to appear before an immigration judge, with an attorney.
-
A Better Guest Worker Program
If parents could work here and go home, then their children would not have to make the dangerous journey to reunite with them.
-
Focus on Security Misses Bigger Problems
Rather than push for reform in Central America, Washington has worked with the same forces that have long helped cause the violence.
-
A Worrying Trend With No Quick Fix
The surge of unaccompanied children is really a trend that has been growing as the result of an accumulating set of factors.
-
A Humanitarian Crisis, Not a Political One
We must think about these kids as asylum seekers, not illegal immigrants – victims of war, people who deserve our protection.
When Do Consumer Boycotts Work?
New Terms for Nafta?
Media in the Age of Trump
From Their Pens to Donald Trump's Ear
Western States, Federal Land