(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
It’s a topic that is barely getting light – children refugees from Honduras. Recently, The New York Times and other news outlets have reported stories that are heart wrenching and horrifying. These children are being discovered by border patrol, with the false illusion that they’ll be granted citizenship because they’re minors. They escaping their homeland of Honduras that is becoming infested with threatening poverty and obscene amounts of gang violence.
As a result of these arrivals, most see the influx of these children as another issue concerning immigration; that their purpose for coming here is to seek better opportunities. However, the reality is that fleeing their countries is a life or death situation.
The Obama Administration’s response to this phenomenon is to return these children back to their homes. In early July, the president asked for $3.7 billion in emergency funding for new detention facilities and immigration judges.
Meanwhile, other states have opened their support, such as Syracuse, New York, whose mayor, Stephanie Minor, has written an open letter to the president, stating, “We have a network of people who are used to dealing with refugee issues. And we have, most importantly, a compassionate community that wants to welcome these children and give them a safe place while these issues are worked out.”
Still, the stay for these children would be the maximum of 35 days, said Minor.
Yet, the reality for most isn’t about these children finding a temporary home. It’s about finding a solution to the problem back home, which is a direct result of the drug war.
As Jose Arnulfo Ochoa Ochoa, World Vision International Honduran expert, told the NYT, “you are handing [these children] a death sentence,” if they are deported back to their countries.
-Araceli Gutierrez, NAHJ Community Service and Event Coordinator
National Association of Hispanic Journalists 