----- Forwarded Message -----
From: MPI Communications <communications@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: WMEJIA8A@xxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, April 8, 2015 8:10 AM
Subject: Policy Response to Unaccompanied Child Migration Crisis Focused on
Short-Term Deterrence, Not Long-Term Solution, Report Finds
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| April 8, 2015
Dear William Mejia, Everyone was seemingly caught off-guard in spring 2014
when a surge of child migrants from Central America reached the U.S.-Mexico
border in numbers not seen before. Yet the numbers of children traveling alone
or with their mothers had been on a significant uptick since 2012. The arrivals
created a significant policy challenge for two reasons. First, the dramatic
pace of new inflows quickly overwhelmed existing U.S. immigrant detention
facilities and an already-strained processing system. Second, this complex,
mixed flow with unique vulnerabilities and requirements differed significantly
from other illegal flows and thus was subject to special procedures. A new
report from MPI’s Transatlantic Council on Migration, Unaccompanied Child
Migration to the United States: The Tension between Protection and Prevention,
examines the question of how to provide protection for genuinely vulnerable
migrants while rebuffing those without valid humanitarian claims. Author Marc
Rosenblum, Deputy Director of MPI’s U.S. Immigration Policy Program, traces the
U.S. resource limitations and other constraints that have led to wait times of
up to two years or more for unaccompanied minors to appear before an
immigration judge—and how those delays, in tandem with a daunting mix of push
factors in Central America that include violence and endemic poverty—have
sparked this migration trend. The report examines the policy responses by the
U.S., Mexican, and Central American governments to respond to the surge,
finding the multifaceted response a short-term success. Monthly arrivals of
unaccompanied minors, which peaked at 10,600 in June 2014, plummeted to 2,400
by September. Assessing the first five months of arrivals for fiscal 2015, the
report finds the child migrant flows are on pace for a 40 percent drop from the
prior year. The report notes that the responses, while relatively effective in
terms of deterrence, have not advanced longer-term solutions that could
mitigate future flows or assist the reintegration of these children in Central
America upon their return. The author offers a number of recommendations,
including investment in security and economic development in Central America,
changes to U.S. visa policy, and improved adjudication procedures across the
region. The report is the second in a seven-report series that draws from a
recent Transatlantic Council meeting, “Refitting the Global Protection System
to Meet the Challenges of Modern Crises.” Forthcoming reports in the series
focus on a variety of current challenges, including the situation of Syrian
refugees in Turkey, and propose innovative solutions to rethink global
protection—including models that seek to transition refugees from dependence to
self-reliance and the potential of labor mobility to facilitate refugee
protection. Read the report on unaccompanied minors at:
http://migrationpolicy.org/research/unaccompanied-child-migration-united-states-tension-between-protection-and-prevention.
And learn more about the Transatlantic Council and its work here:
http://migrationpolicy.org/transatlantic.
With best regards,
Demetrios G. Papademetriou Convenor, Transatlantic Council on Migration
Distinguished Senior Fellow and President Emeritus, Migration Policy Institute
### The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit
think tank in Washington, D.C. dedicated to analysis of the movement of people
worldwide. MPI provides analysis, development, and evaluation of migration and
refugee policies at the local, national, and international levels. For more on
MPI, please visit www.migrationpolicy.org. |
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