Over the last few weeks, we have been hearing a lot about children crossing the border between the United States and Mexico. These children, some as young as seven or eight years old, peacefully turn themselves in to border patrol agents once they reach American soil. They have been housed in dormitories, warehouses, or wherever else the government can find room for them.
They are coming to America to get away from the extremely high rate of murder and mayhem in their home countries - Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. They cross Mexico, usually in freight trains, and arrive here, often famished, and frequently robbed of the few possessions they began with. They cross the Rio Grande in homemade boats, inflated inner tubes or childrens' swimming pools, or just by swimming. It is almost inevitable that some will drown in the attempt if some haven't died already.
It is believed that about seventy percent of these children have parents living in the United States, and ninety percent have at least some other relative here. Often, the kinfolk living in America have forwarded money to the children to pay passage here, either by train, or to a guide. These guides, called coyotes, do not enjoy a good reputation. In fact, they are said to rob their charges as often as not. How many trusting children have been abandoned somewhere in Mexico, or even murdered by these coyotes is unknown, but we can be sure it has happened.
As if all that wasn't enough, Mexican officials, especially the police, have cut themselves in for a share of the funds these kids might be bringing with them. So the short of it is, these children arrive in our country after a desperate journey of hundreds of miles, hoping to find a welcome and a better life among us, or at least to escape the hellish conditions in their homelands.
But, many of us have not been welcoming at all. Let me concede right off the bat here, that they are entering the United States illegally. They commit a crime when they cross the Rio Grande, but please recall, these are juvenile offenders. In our legal system, and indeed in our moral view of life, a juvenile is not fully responsible for his or her actions. Indeed, as already suggested, they are coming because they were told to do so by adults in America, or in their native land. And don't we prize obedient children here?
Let us consider the practical aspects of this migration for a moment. The total number of unaccompanied children entering the United States in the last few months is about 57,000. The total population of the United States in 2013 was estimated to be 318,000,000. So, these kids increase our population by between one and two ten-thousandths of one percent of our population. In the great scheme of things, this does not represent an undue burden on our welfare system or our unemployment problem. That might be the case if they were all to remain in a single community, but it must be obvious that they will be dispersed across the nation, if they aren't deported.
And as to that. If they are sent back to their countries of origin, the same terror that caused them to make such a difficult journey will still confront them. Some will be killed, some others will turn into the type of criminals they fled, and almost all will remain impoverished with poor prospects for any kind of long fulfilled lives.
American law requires that persons entering the country without proper legal clearance must be refused and returned to their last country of residence. There is an exception, however, for refugees. People fleeing repression can gain asylum in the United States. Many Cuban citizens, to cite the most obvious example, came here for that reason. One can make a strong argument that these children qualify under the same exception to the immigration laws. One can also make a strong argument that our own American craving for narcotics has exacerbated the violence in Central America, but that might be a topic for another day.
In light of all this, the churlish reaction of some Americans to the influx of children has just been sickening. Crowds gathering at the border screaming abuse at these desperate young people, blocking buses taking the refugees to decent accommodations, accusations that they are being housed in luxury by the government, and worst of all the governor of Texas patrolling the Rio Grande in a swift boat with mounted machine guns, all are just despicable. What does he think he's going to do - shoot children in the water?
I have to believe we're better than that as a nation.
