You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.
-Dr. Seuss

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Innocence At Their Fingertips

Throughout the past weeks there has been countless news reports focused on the thousands of children who have fled their home countries alone to come to a better place. This better place being the United States, of course. Border Patrol is so overwhelmed by the amount of children crossing (most of which are Central American).  They are unable to get the children proper documentation and are focusing on treating them and keeping them safe. These children have left their families in search of a better life, some have even been abandoned and have no other choice but to fend for themselves and make executive decisions alone. It is a very heart wrenching experience what these children are going through, but this just goes to show that they are willing to fight for their lives. They are fighting to survive...

Images: Google Images






Image: The Detroit News-Nation World
 
 
Image: Google Images


Kids crossing the border fill U.S. detention centers: 


Brownsville, Texas – — Children’s faces pressed against glass. Hundreds of young boys and girls covered with aluminum foil-like blankets next to chain-link fences. The pungent odor that comes with keeping dirty travelers in close quarters.

These were the sights from a Wednesday tour of a crowded Border Patrol station in South Texas where thousands of immigrants are being held before they are transferred to other shelters around the country.

It was the first time the media was given access to the facility since President Barack Obama called the more than 47,000 unaccompanied children who have entered the country illegally this budget year an “urgent humanitarian situation.”

Border Patrol stations like the one in Brownsville were not meant for long-term custody. Immigrants are supposed to wait there until they are processed and taken to detention centers. But the surge in children arriving without their parents has overwhelmed the U.S. government ... More on this article? Click the link above. Video also included. 






“The Border Patrol is too busy changing diapers and not going after dope peddlers and illegal immigrants,” Arpaio told Fox News Monday night.
More than 47,000 mostly Central American unaccompanied children have been caught illegally crossing the Mexican border into Texas since October. That’s left border agents in Texas overwhelmed and unable to process so many children. Within the last week, more than 1,000 of them have been transferred to a warehouse in Nogales, Ariz., where they are being processed before being sent to shelters in various states and then reunited with family members. 
...
“I think the president knew this was going to happen, so it’s going to help him on his executive orders if Congress doesn’t take this mission up,” Arpaio told Fox News. “It might backfire because of the inhumane situations.”
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said that the children are being treated humanely and that there is no free pass for young children or anyone else caught trying to cross the border.
“I have been watching them (Border Patrol agents) do absolutely heroic efforts,” Kerlikowske said. “Not only rescuing children but taking care of them, way beyond some of the skill sets. They are doing everything from making formula to brining in their own children’s clothing to taking care of these kids in a multitude of ways.” More on this article? Click the link above. 


Immigrant kids detained in warehouse of humanity

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The children — all younger than 18 — sit in fenced off areas or lie on mattresses placed on up against the other with a look of intense boredom on their faces. They are divided in holding areas by age and gender.
...
Border Patrol isn't the only government agency on site. The Federal Emergency Management Agency now is running the entire operation.

At 11 a.m. MST Wednesday, they briefly opened the center up to the media. The facility itself is enormous, about the size of a football field. It has 18-foot-high chain-link fences topped with razor wire dividing the children by age and gender, one area for kids 12 and younger, areas each for boys and girls ages 13 to 15, and still more for boys and girls ages 16 and 17. Nylon tarps tied to the fences provide a modicum of privacy between the groups. 

But as sad as it is, the children are clothed and fed. They are clean. and the federal Public Health Service is on site conducting medical examinations and giving vaccinations. 

Pallets of water, cans of beans, bedding and clothing are available. Officials are doing their best to accommodate dietary needs; Central Americans don't eat flour, so they substituted corn tortillas. 

Once every other day, the children here get to go outside for recreation in the hot summer Arizona sun where highs are expected to be 90 degrees Wednesday but 101 degrees by Saturday. A basketball hoop is available, but most just sit and talk.

 After recreation, they go to the showers in the large trailers backed up by FEMA to the doors of the facility. 

Then they sit, passing the hours until it's their turn to leave.
... More on this article? Click the link above. Pictures and chart by the Department of Health and Human services of Refugee Resettlement. 

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