Refugee children need protection
I would like to shed light on a deeply disturbing practice by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), that of separating children from their parents in order to deter illegal border crossing.
The U.S. government took custody of more than 700 children at the border since October 2017. More than 100 were under the age of four. A year ago, thenDHS Secretary John
Kelly admitted that the agency was considering a policy of separating women and children at the border to deter people from attempting the journey. Appallingly, in 2017, almost 1,500 migrant children who were taken into custody by the U.S. government and placed with sponsors went missing.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol officials are now pressuring current DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to adopt an unprecedented policy of criminally prosecuting all parents who illegally cross the border with their children. This would mean imprisoning parents, and either deporting children alone or placing them in U.S. custody.
Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.” Have we become a nation that seeks to treat parents like criminals for wishing for a life for their children free from violence, gangs, drugs and poverty? Have we become a nation that separates children from the sacred arms of safety and love provided by their parents and guardians? Children in any situation are vulnerable and therefore deserve our protection and defense. But children fleeing acute need and physical danger are many times more vulnerable and need to be with their families. There is no moral justification for removing them from the emotional and psychological protection of their families.
YVETTE BAKER, WEST PALM BEACH Editor’s note: Baker is Immigration Committee Lead with Mormon Women for Ethical Government.