In this case, the controversy hits on different fronts after Sessions defended his idea of ​​"separating children from their parents, because it is contemplated in the Bible." A statement with which the Catholic leaders of the United States do not agree. At first, the Republicans of the House of Representatives are planning to vote this week two immigration proposals, scheduled before this crisis erupted. A draft on the issue of immigrants from DACA (abbreviations in English that are known in the United States to the law that avoided deportation to undocumented youth) and another on the financing of the wall on the border. However, it is unknown what will happen, because there are two versions on the DACA issue: one very conservative, which does not have enough votes to be approved, and another more moderate, whose future is uncertain, because no legislator knows what the president wants to do Trump has met Monday with West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito. An appointment that has been marked in red, because she is the president of the subcommittee of Senate Appropriations, which oversees the Trump administration's request for funds for the wall, a key element in the president's immigration policy.

Where are the migrant children in the United States going?

The US government lost contact with thousands of children who arrived in the country illegally and were relocated to temporary homes. This shows the errors in the immigration policy of separation of families promoted by Donald Trump.

"Why do I have to leave, Mom? I want to stay with you, "a four-year-old Salvadoran boy asks his mother while Border Patrol officers in Texas take him to a transit shelter.

The scene, told by Denis Gilman, a lawyer from the University of Texas, is just one of the many witnessed at the United States border. Although frightening, this is one of the lucky stories, because Jil, the youngest's mother, knows that her son went to a foster home in Virginia while she remains detained because of her migrant status. Other families do not run the same fate and lose total contact with their families.

The administration of President Donald Trump in May urged "zero tolerance," a policy that separates children from families of illegal migrants to frighten so-called "dreamers" and reduce the flow of migrants.

Basically, it means that families who arrive at the border illegally are prosecuted in federal criminal courts. Because children can not be retained, they are reclassified as "unaccompanied children" and go to temporary homes or shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Where are 1,475 immigrant children lost? To the US government UU he does not care

But the most serious thing is not the separation, but the US government is "losing" those children relocated in temporary homes. Since May 6, which began the "Zero Tolerance" plan, children who end up in shelters managed by HHS have been increased by 22%. The figures to date show that 10,859 immigrant children are currently in these federally owned shelters.

However, this week, HHS, in charge of the relocation of minors, announced that it lost contact with 1,475 of the children relocated between October and December 2017. According to statistics from the Institute for Migration Policy, 100,000 children left the countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras) and in 2017 was close to 150,000.

This does not literally mean that children are lost, but the Government can not contact them because their guardians did not show up at the regulated hearings or do not answer the calls. One of the theories that is handled is that the minors were assigned to families that are also undocumented and for that reason their protectors refuse to appear before the authorities for fear of being deported.

"Once the office locates the children with their sponsoring homes there is no longer any legal obligation, there is no legal relationship between the office and the children. Society may be dissatisfied with that reality, but this is the truth and that is why it requires action by Congress, "said Sarah Pierce, political analyst at the Institute for Migration Policy.

The first major problem of relocation is the whereabouts of children, because once assigned to a protective family, HHS does not monitor their living conditions. An investigation by the University of California at Berkeley showed how a group of Guatemalan minors relocated by HHS ended up working against their will at an egg farm in Ohio.

But is family separation at the border legal? "The forced separation violates numerous international legal standards. For example, article 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that "the best interests of the child be a primary consideration" in any administrative action. In addition, it specifies that "States shall ensure that a child is not separated from its parents against its will, except when the competent authorities subject to judicial review determine it," said Jay Michaelson, legal analyst for The Daily Beast.

However, the problem, as Michaelson explains, is that the United States is the only country in the world that has not joined this convention and its ratification in the Senate has not been achieved because some conservative senators believe that it would "trample on their sovereignty." .

Despite the criticism, the relocation was not an initiative of President Trump. The first denunciations go back to the government of George W. Bush when the first segmented returns of families were reported: the parents for one exit and the children for another. In fact, Trump is covered by the William Wilberforce Traffic Victim Protection Reauthorization Act signed by Bush in 2008 and which prohibits deporting minors who are not from bordering countries, which results in the children being relocated inside. of the United States.

"This law was in effect for years, but no previous administration believed that it required family separation," said US Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt. "Whatever disagreements people may have about how to tackle the biggest immigration problems in this country, young children should not be negotiating as pawns. We are talking about children under 2, 3 and 4 years, "added Gelernt.

After the scandal, President Trump and HHS washed their hands. The president pointed out that this was the fault of the Democratic Party, responsible for the "horrible law that separates children from their parents" -when in fact it was he and Attorney General Jeff Sessions who promoted it-, while HHS hid behind a statement that its legal authority is to "temporarily harbor and then release unaccompanied foreign minors to a sponsor." because it has no "authority to trace children or return them to our custody," because "Congress has not granted power or funds to reach beyond. "

"These children are among the most vulnerable in the world: they are alone, escaping violence and poverty in their countries of origin. However, when they arrive at our border, they often face shocking levels of neglect and abuse by US officials, officials who are required by law to keep these children safe and treat them humanely, "said Claudia Flores, director of the International Human Rights Clinic.

A report by researchers at the University of Chicago noted that the Border Patrol and similar authorities such as the FBI have abused migrant children both physically and verbally, as they have beaten the children and labeled them "dogs", "prostitutes", "Pieces of garbage", and they have been caged in unhygienic freezing cells with inadequate food and water. Those accused of abuse of authority referred to the report as "false and baseless accusations."

"It is necessary to have better accountability mechanisms, an independent body that can carry out a rigorous investigation of allegations of child abuse and impose disciplinary measures on official individuals who commit these abuses so that they are disciplined or prosecuted," said Nino Guruli , professor of law at the University of Chicago.

Although the government argued that this policy is not about separating children but about prosecuting migrants who break the laws, reality shows a different and heartbreaking scenario. The New York Times reported that 700 families are separated in the last three months. There is no guarantee of communication between parents and children after being separated and there is no mechanism to reunite families after solving their legal terms.

According to a Health Department official quoted by the Washington Post, the facilities for children are occupied at 91% of their capacity and the measures to combat illegal migration proposed by the government will cause these centers to be overwhelmed.

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