Central American and Mexican Refugees Return to the Border with Spring Mary Turck - Al Jazeera
go to original April 21, 2015

Listen: Asylum-seeking mothers protest family detention from inside of for-profit facility in Texas (FSRN.org)

The kids are back. And once again, the U.S. immigration system is not prepared to handle them. Every spring, along with birds and butterflies, children and families desperate to escape violence in Central America and Mexico head north in increasing numbers. The U.S. response: more prison beds, more Border Patrol agents and speedy deportation proceedings. These responses violate the human rights of refugees, protected by both U.S. and international law.

The numbers of immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border peak from March to June. The Border Patrol apprehended 3,138 unaccompanied minors in March, slightly fewer than in the same month in 2013 and 2014. The number of Central American migrants is expected to climb steadily through June, though not as high as last year’s record. And without record-breaking numbers, their plight is unlikely to make global headlines. This year, the cries of the children will not even reach our ears. We now have Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, Rand Paul and a whole cavalcade of presidential aspirants to listen to.

The overwhelming majority of the child migrants and refugees come from Central America. They flee from Honduras, the murder capital of the world, from Guatemala’s organized corruption and violence, from the deadly gangs of El Salvador and from the drug-cartel-imposed terror in Mexico. Surviving rape and robbery, deadly deserts and La Bestia (the Beast) freight trains, the refugees arrive at the presumed safety of the United States. Unlike the migrating birds and butterflies, they find no welcome here.

Read the rest at Al Jazeera

Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

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