What You Don’t Know About Migrant Children May Kill Them

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

Our country has an obligation — moral and legal — to provide protection to these children, and to not deport them back to gangs and unspeakable violence. The 2008 trafficking law exists for this very purpose. But right now, Congress is trying to rollback important protections in this law to “deport these children more quickly.” One piece of legislation, the ill-labeled “HUMANE” Act sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, rips out protections specifically for children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — the very children who need these protections as they flee these countries with the highest rate of violence in the region. This is not the answer. And this cannot be the American response. It is unconscionable that Congress would roll back a law because more children are in need of its protection.

Instead, we need to provide these children the protection, care, counseling and legal assistance they need to apply for asylum and protection. And we need to work with these countries to dramatically improve the rule of law,create witness protection programs, secure women’s shelters and build a strong infrastructure for child welfare. Some of the provisions in the Senate’s supplemental appropriations bill get to these very issues, but most of the proposals by the House Working Group and the deluge of bills to roll back legal protections for children are precisely the wrong answer to this complex crisis.

In the coming days, every member of Congress will need to answer this question: If a politician held the life of your child in their hands, what would you have them do?

Jen Smyers serves as the associate director for Immigration and Refugee Policy with Church World Service.

This article originally appeared on www.rollcall.com.