Parents Must Stop Sending Their Children …

Published in La Tribuna
(Honduras) on 14 June 2014
by Editorial (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Claudia V. Tabora. Edited by Bora Mici.
Today, the state of Texas asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for $30 million to help with the crisis unfolding on the Mexico-U.S. border, after the number of immigrant children arriving unaccompanied from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala has skyrocketed. This past Thursday, the attorney general from Texas highlighted in a letter that border agents have reported an increase of 92 percent in the number of minor immigrants attempting to cross the border without their parents.

"The influx of child immigrants has so overwhelmed the U.S. Border Patrol that federal agents are devoting time and resources to the humanitarian aspects of the influx. Therefore, we are concerned federal authorities are not available to secure the border and successfully stop cross-border criminal activity ... We have grave concerns that dangerous cartel activity, including narcotics smuggling and human trafficking, will go unchecked," wrote the attorney general.

This Thursday, in response to this alarming crisis, the U.S. government urged Central American parents to stop sending their children alone or through criminal smuggling organizations to the United States.

It seems that the Honduran president was right about what he just said on his trip to Washington, D.C. The U.S. does not understand the problem: This situation is [not] going to be resolved by asking parents to stop sending their children to the United States. The influx of minors crossing the border unaccompanied is not happening because they are being sent there, but rather because they are either escaping organized criminal violence in their countries or fear being recruited by gangs and other criminal groups. On his visit to Washington, D.C., the Honduran president said that the large influx of Central American children arriving in the U.S. are "war refugees," and that the U.S. has to do more to address the causes of drug trafficking violence, which is causing these children to leave their countries. He also said that "the economic assistance the U.S. has allocated to fighting drug trafficking and the stabilization of Honduras, as well as its impact, is minimal."*

"This is distressing because it illustrates, perhaps, that the inability to comprehend the causes of illegal immigration and, in great part, violence relates to how this misunderstanding of the problem creates these situations. We are suffering the consequences of what is misunderstood here — in the United States."*

In fiscal year 2013, which ended last September, the U.S. Border Patrol reported 24,000 children crossing the border unaccompanied, and by May of this year, the number had increased to 47,000, especially in the Texas Rio Grande Valley sector. Central American leaders have been complaining at regional summits that the international aid to fight organized crime and uncertainty is too small, so let’s see if the U.S. comes to its senses now that the amount of immigrants arriving at the border includes thousands of minors. Let's see if they get it. It is worrisome to discover that the response of the U.S. government has been for the parents to stop sending their children to the U.S. If that's their understanding of the problem, helping them get it would be like plowing the ocean.

*Editor's note: The original quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.


“EL Estado de Texas pidió hoy 30 millones de dólares al Departamento de Seguridad Nacional de EE UU ante la crisis desatada en la frontera con México, al dispararse la cifra de niños inmigrantes que llegan solos al país norteamericano, en su mayoría procedentes de Honduras, El Salvador y Guatemala. El procurador general de Texas, indicó este jueves en un comunicado que los agentes fronterizos han informado de un aumento del 92 por ciento en el número de menores inmigrantes que tratan de cruzar la frontera sin sus padres”. “La llegada de menores inmigrantes ha sobrepasado a los agentes fronterizos, que consagran su tiempo y recursos a los aspectos humanitarios de este influjo y no están disponibles para garantizar la seguridad de la frontera e impedir la actividad criminal. Nos preocupa que no pueda controlarse la peligrosa actividad de los carteles, el tráfico de drogas y de personas”, explicó el procurador. “Debido a esa crisis que ha disparado todas las alarmas, el gobierno estadounidense urgió este jueves a los padres centroamericanos a no enviar a EE UU a sus hijos solos o a través de redes de tráfico de personas”.

Pues como que el mandatario hondureño tiene razón con lo que les acaba de decir allá en Washington. No entienden el problema. Como si esto se resolviera solicitando a los padres que no manden a sus hijos. Si el éxodo de menores no necesariamente ocurre porque los envían sus padres, sino porque huyen de la violencia en sus países provocada por el crimen organizado o por el temor de ser reclutados por las maras y pandillas delictivas. En Washington, el presidente hondureño aseguró que los niños centroamericanos que están llegando a EE UU en cantidades masivas “son desplazados de guerra” y el país norteamericano “tiene que hacer más” para afrontar las causas de la violencia del narcotráfico que les lleva a huir. Agregó que, “tanto la asistencia económica que Washington dedica a la lucha contra el narcotráfico y la estabilización de Honduras como su impacto sobre el terreno son “mínimos”. “Eso es triste, porque refleja quizá la falta de comprender que la causa del problema de la migración ilegal y en buena parte la violencia tiene que ver con esa falta de comprensión del problema para poder crear oportunidades. Nosotros estamos sufriendo las consecuencias de lo que aquí no se entiende”.

En el año fiscal 2013, que concluyó en septiembre pasado, la Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza (CBP) de EE UU registró unos 24,000 niños que cruzaron la frontera sin compañía, y para mayo de este ejercicio el número se había incrementado hasta los 47,000, sobre todo en la zona de Río Grande (Texas). Como los mandatarios centroamericanos en las cumbres regionales se han quejado que hasta ahora la ayuda para luchar contra el crimen organizado y la inseguridad viene a cuentagotas, de la comunidad internacional, a ver si el socio del norte despierta, hoy que la cantidad de migrantes que les llega no son adultos solamente sino centenares de miles de menores. Vamos a ver si entienden. Aflige enterarse que la respuesta del gobierno norteamericano sea que no los manden los padres. Si ese es el concepto que tienen del problema, hacerlos entender sería como arar en el mar.
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