Why do these children come across our borders without their parents? 10 year old Felipe* will stand all alone in front of a judge this September. This immigration hearing will decide the fate of the rest of his life. Felipe fled El Salvador after seeing his father murdered in front of his eyes. His father was targeted because he ran a rehabilitation center for people trying to leave gangs, so Filipe has a case for asylum under international law. The problem? Felipe has no resources to retain a lawyer, and certainly is not in a position to represent himself. Probably his mother still has family to care for at home. Shes sending Felipe because if she doesnt, the gangs will either kill him for not joining, or will kidnap him and force him to join. Either way, shell lose him. If he makes it here, at least he has a ghost of a chance at just living - never mind making a bunch of money because anything they make is more than theyll have at home. Diseased? Probably not. San Salvador has a pretty good program for vaccinating their kids. I work with a medical NGO and we rarely have problems with that. Sometimes theyll have malaria, but thats treatable and not infectious. Sometimes theyll have intestinal parasites - again treatable and not particularly infectious if handled correctly. So the diseased objection is bogus. Besides, a kid who can make that trip most likely isnt going to be sick. Theyd never survive the trip! Only coming here for the DREAM program - doubtful. They might have heard of it, but they probably also know that the DREAMer kids have restrictions on them that they cant possibly reach. The jungle vine down there is really pretty accurate. They dont miss much. Why do parents send just their children? Because they love them enough to let them have a chance at a better life than what they are going to have where they are. THEY LOVE THEM ENOUGH TO LET THEM GO. It takes phenomenal courage to do what they do. They may never see those kids again. But they trust in God and they have hope. Who are you to deny them that hope? Seriously???
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 16:58:26 +0000
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