The problem isn't that federal authorities have lost track of nearly 1,500 immigrant children, as nearly each major News exit in recent weeks. The problem is that the well-intentioned outcry over the news has obscured the bigger issues with immigration policy, say three Northeastern professors who specialize in immigration law.
Last week, news emerged that the feds had “lost” nearly 1,500 immigrant children, but that's not quite accurate. The administration realized it had lost track of 1,475 children who crossed the border alone and were placed with sponsors in the United States, according to testimony before a Senate subcommittee in April. However, it is possible that these missing children were simply living with sponsors who chose not to return a phone call when federal agencies tried to reach them.
The bigger issue, Northeastern professors say, is a policy put in place during the Obama administration that is now being used to criminalize immigrants at the border and forcibly separate families in order to deport immigrants separately.
“It's misplaced outrage,” said attorney Matt Cameron, who teaches immigration policy at Northeastern.
The sweeping policy fails to draw appropriate legal considerations for asylum seekers and effectively “criminalises the whole immigration system”, Cameron said.
Law professors Rachel Rosenbloom and Hemanth Gundavaram, co-directors of the Immigrant Justice Clinic, echoed Cameron's assessment.
“Statements from officials within the administration make it clear that this policy is nothing more than a bald attempt to prevent asylum seekers from exercising their right to seek protection from persecution,” Rosenblum said.
We recently learned that federal agents have begun separating families at the border as a result of a new policy announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Can you explain more about what this policy does and doesn't do?
Rosenblum: Separating children from their parents at the border is a terrifying policy that the Trump administration began implementing months ago and recently officially announced. Statements from officials within the administration make it clear that this policy is nothing more than a bald attempt to prevent asylum seekers from exercising their right to seek protection from persecution. There is absolutely no legal justification for this policy. No law requires children to be separated from their parents, and no previous administration has done so. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a legal challenge, and I believe we may soon see a federal court prohibit the government from implementing this policy on constitutional or other grounds. This policy is also a clear violation of international law, which protects family unity and guarantees those fleeing persecution the right to seek asylum at our borders.
Mr. Gundavaram, you mentioned this policy as well. What are some of your concerns with this?
Gundavaram: There are two aspects of the policy — which Sessions introduced as “zero tolerance” for people crossing the southern border — that concern. The first is that prosecuting everyone who crosses the border will include people, such as asylum seekers, who need relief that should be lawfully provided to them. The second concern is that the Trump administration is using the “missing children” outcry to remove real protections for children in custody. Clearly the goals here are not to help people but to track and deport people.
Are 1,500 children really missing? What happened to them?
Rosenblum: These children are all unaccompanied minors — children who arrived at the border without a parent. In many cases, these are children who traveled to the United States to be reunited with parents who are already here. Under a 2008 law, Customs and Border Protection must transfer unaccompanied minors to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services. ORR then places these children with a sponsor who cares for them as they go through the process of seeking legal status in the United States. About 85 percent of the time, a child is placed with a parent or other close relative. In the remaining cases, the child is placed with a more distant relative or in another type of foster care environment. ORR performs background checks on sponsors and in some cases conducts home studies before placement is approved.
ORR recently reported that it made follow-up calls to the sponsors of nearly 8,000 children, but was unable to reach the sponsor in 1,475 of the cases. There are many reasons why the organization may have failed to approach a sponsor. some are as mundane as a cell phone that has been out of order. It is important to bear in mind that the majority of these children live with their parents or other close relatives. It is also important to note that immigrants are extremely fearful right now due to the Trump administration's anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions, so they may not want to come into contact with a government agency. It is always important to monitor government agencies to ensure they are performing their duties properly, and this is especially true under the current administration. However, there are many issues right now that are far more pressing than ORR's inability to follow up with these children.
So what we're talking about here are two separate issues: The first is the federal prosecution of everyone who crosses the border, and the second is that the caregivers of the children cannot be reached, but not necessarily ignored. What is the connection?
Cameron: I worry about the effect that one has on the other. Because there is so much outcry over the misunderstanding that these kids are missing, I worry that this administration will try to pass something they call a fix that will actually make the situation much worse. The reaction to hearing that these children were “missing” was to ask the Office of Refugee Resettlement to become a federal child welfare agency, which is never what ORR was intended to be. We don't want them to become a social service agency. There has to be a balance here.
What are some of these other issues of concern?
Rosenbloom: A big concern is the treatment of unaccompanied minors before placed on sponsors—including physical, psychological, and sexual abuse documented to occur at the hands of Customs and Border Protection. Additionally, with the new policy of separating parents and children, a whole new group of children is entering the ORR-supervised system. Previously, many of the children in ORR's care were teenagers who came to the United States on their own and had family here to reunite with. Now, ORR is called upon to care for very young children who have recently suffered trauma at the hands of their parents and whose parents are in custody. The body is inadequate to handle this. There are also other issues of concern, including the fact that ORR's new director has imposed his political views on teenage girls in the agency's care, preventing them from obtaining abortions.
