Since October, nearly 63,000 youth have been apprehended attempting to
enter into the United States through the Mexican border (Park, 2014). Since
2011, the number of children from Central America attempting to enter America
has doubled each year (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2014).
These children, labeled either unaccompanied minors (UAM) or unaccompanied
alien children (UAC), are coming
to the U.S. primarily from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. They are
frequently coming in an attempt to escape poverty, sexual assault, violence
from gangs, kidnapping, or murder. This multi-part series of will explore the
impact of border migration by unaccompanied children and youth on social policy
in the U.S.
Placement with relatives in
America does not end the child’s vulnerability to trafficking (Lind, 2014). With the dramatic rise in UAC, there has been
an increased pressure to get UACs out of shelters and into placement with
family members as quickly as possible.
Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has stated that they do a home
study for only certain categories of UAC, as well as follow up visits for
at-risk children (ORR, 2013). This raises concern that a number of placements
are not being adequately screened for safety.
A similar practice in the 1990s resulted in Chinese immigrants being
released to people officials believed were relatives, but turned out to be part
of smuggling networks. The smugglers would then extort the immigrants and their
families (Lind, 2014). Although it is
still too soon to know if the same thing is happening to these UACs, from
2008-2010, 95% of confirmed labor trafficking survivors in the U.S were
foreign-born (Banks & Kyckelhahn, 2011).
 |
| CBP facility in South Texas (Photo: Huston Chronicle/U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar) |
Because of these compounding
vulnerabilities and knowledge from the field that many UACs have been
trafficked, all UACs should be screened for indicators of human trafficking
once encountered at the border. The use of a standardized screening tool by
trained professionals (such as the tool under development through ChildRight: New York) would identify more child survivors so they
may be provided the additional protections and resources to which they are
entitled. Currently, when a youth is apprehended by a Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) Officer, he or she is interviewed by an officer within 48
hours to determine if he or she is eligible for protection under TVPRA. A study completed by United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) found that the majority of these interviews
are focused on getting quick answers and that most of the interviews were
conducted in public, in plain sight of potential traffickers. Many times, interpreters were not made
available to the children and on average the interviews lasted only about ten
minutes (UNHCR, 2014). Although CBP has
stated that they have developed trainings for their officers on how to properly
screen UACs, this training has not been released to the public. Additionally,
there is no data available on the number of UACs identified by the CBP to be at
risk of trafficking (Center for Gender & Refugee Studies & Kids in Need
of Defense, 2014).
To address the vulnerability
of UAC to exploitation, several steps should be taken. First, all UACs should be screened for
indicators of human trafficking by persons trained in child-sensitive interviewing. Interviews should be given in the child’s
native language in a safe place where the child can feel comfortable disclosing
sensitive information. All relatives and
families that house UACs should be screened for possible safety concerns. Home-visits and follow up visits in line with
those provided to youth in foster care should be completed to ensure that all
UACs are living in healthy and safe environments. UACs should have access to legal support,
including child advocates who can support them in court. Congress should enact legislation mandating
counsel for UACs legislation, such as the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and
Immigration Modernization Act. Lastly, for UACs returned to their home
country, the U.S. needs to work with the home country to implement
comprehensive reintegration services.
These services should focus on ensuring safety for the child when
returned to their country of origin.
Ideally these services should also address the safety issues that caused
the child to flee their country, to ensure that the child is not returned to danger
they will need to flee again.
- Caitlin Gallacher, ChildRight: New York
Intern
Resources
Bank, D.
& Kyckelhahn, T. (2011). Characteristic of suspected human
trafficking incidents, 2008-2010.
Washington, D: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Center for
Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) & Kids in Need of Defense (KIND).
(2014). A treacherous journey: Child
migrants navigating the U.S. immigration system. Retrieved from http://www.supportkind.org/en/about-us/resources/download/63
Lind, D.
(2014). Thousand of children are fleeing Central America to Texas- alone. Retrieved from http://www.vox.com/2014/6/4/5773268/children-migration-central-america-texas-unaccompanied-alien-children-border-crisis
Office of
Refugee Resettlement (2013). About
unaccompanied children’s services.
Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/programs/ucs/about
Park, H.
(2014). Q. and A. Children at the Border.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/15/us/questions-about-the-border-kids.html?_r=0
United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (2014). Children
on the run: Unaccompanied children leaving Central American and Mexico and the
need for international protection.
Retrieved from http://www.unhcrwashington.org/sites/default/files/1_UAC_Children%20on%20the%20Run_Full%20Report.pdf
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