|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
The Children Left Behind
The Tijuana Temporary Shelter for Minors was established as a test case to alleviate the burden of young children who are caught trying to cross into the United States illegally, often smuggled without a family member with the help of a coyote or pollero. Just a few feet from the border line, the 25-foot trailer houses a nursery, a room with two bunk beds, a small office, kitchenette and a sitting room with a TV. The shelter opened in February 2004. Since then, it has processed 11,400 children (65% boys, 35% girls). It is difficult to estimate how many children are smuggled into the United States, but the Tijuana sector border patrol deports a steady stream of kids every day. During the summer, the number of deported minors nearly doubles due to summer vacation from school. About 80 percent of these children are trying to join family members already in the U.S. The remainder are heading north in hopes of finding a job and a better life. As we watched the faces of the children in the first of two daily vanloads delivered by border patrol, all we could see was fear and bewilderment. The success of the shelter is daunting and almost unbelievable -- unless you spend a day with the three government workers who manage to reunite 85 percent of the children. Armed with only a phone line and the Internet, which they just began using last month, they are able to unite unaccompanied minors with a close relative by 5pm. The remaining 15% are placed in an overnight shelter, where they are reunited with family members within a week or two. Website: http://news.yahoo.com/s/news21/20060828/ts_news21/the_children_left_behind_1 KIDS CORNER ARTICLES
|
