Unaccompanied Children: Propaganda Versus Fact

A chilling photo of two immigrant children in a fenced detention center went viral two months ago.  The picture of young females stretched out on a concrete floor caused a national furor over President Trump's immigration policy.  There was only one problem.  The photo was snapped in 2014.

In May, posts on Twitter and other social media never mentioned the photo was four years old. The provocative image and others were posted by President's Obama's former speechwriter Jon Favreau, who claimed the photos were evidence of Mr. Trump's cruel punishment of unaccompanied children.

Only when an Arizona newspaper pointed out the photos were taken four years ago did Favreau confess.  However, he attempted to weasel out of his deception by pleading he made a mistake.  His assertion came long after the images triggered a national outrage on the handling of minors.

The incident is one example of many disinformation efforts to inflame the national conscience over this volatile issue. As a result of the propaganda, the blame for the treatment of these children has fallen on the shoulders of the current administration.  Facts seem to matter little to the perpetrators.

In the rush to judgment, few recall the U.S. policy for detaining unaccompanied children has been in force for a decade.  Under a law passed with bi-partisan support in 2008, unaccompanied foreign children from countries other than Mexico or Canada are taken into custody for their protection.

The unaccompanied minor problem spiked during the Obama years, beginning in 2014 when thousands of immigrants from Central American countries were smuggled into the U.S.  From October 2015 to March of 2016,  unaccompanied minors apprehended at the border rose 78 percent.

According to a Pew Research analysis of U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, from 2014 to March of 2016, border agents detained 71,951 unaccompanied minors who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.  Detention centers quickly were overcrowded by the stream of foreign minors.

Alarmed at the surge, the Obama Administration was forced to launch a public information campaign in Central America to stem the flood of children. Although the effort had a temporary impact, it failed to deter the tsunami of immigrant youths journeying north to the U.S.

During the crisis, the Obama Administration followed the 2008 law without a peep from the media.  Minors were temporarily placed in shelter facilities operated by Customs and Border Protection.  After screening, they were transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).

This policy was designed to prevent human trafficking and to keep children safe.  The youths were fed, sheltered and provided medical care until they could be released to a family member or sponsor. No matter what you read in the media, this policy remains the same today as it was under Obama.

In recognition of the growing problem, the Department of Health and Human Services recently expanded the number of shelters to 100 with 13,000 beds in 17 states.  The federal budget for this fiscal year was increased to $1.08 billion to handle minors placed in U.S. custody.

It was no coincidence the fake social media propaganda appeared soon after the administration enacted a policy of zero tolerance for illegal adults apprehended at the border. The directive does cause children to be temporarily separated from their families after the adult is placed in custody.

Adding to the duplicity, the media circulated stories asserting 1,500 children separated from their parents had gone missing. There was confusion about whether the children were separated from families at the border.  It turns out ORR transitioned the minors to sponsors in the U.S. 

Under President Trump, ORR has placed 23,543 minors who entered the country illegally.  Some of those minors are sent to family members who may be living in the country illegally.  Reuniting families is a priority even if the sponsors are undocumented foreigners.  Does that sound cruel?

Critics deliberately obfuscate the issue by mixing the unaccompanied minor policy with the apprehension of illegal adult immigrants.  The issues are divided by very different laws and legal directives.  Most news reporting jumbles the two together to support their anti-Trump narrative.

Additionally, the media has neglected to report that some minors are not innocent children. Documents obtained by government watchdog Judicial Watch reveal nearly 1,000 cases in 2014 of foreign minors confessing to murders, rapes, smuggling and prostitution in their country of origin.

The ORR incident logs also contain reports of Central American minors suffering sexual assaults during their journey through Mexico and being subjected to inappropriate sexual relationships with Mexican cops.  Why is there no denunciation of Mexican corruption and treatment of minors?

Children traveling alone is a humanitarian and public safety nightmare.  Some are quick to pin the blame on the administration because these minors are put in peril after parents ship them out on their own.  There are better ways.  The United States offers legal immigration and political asylum.

No one in Congress is asking the obvious question: Why are so many unaccompanied foreign minors continuing to enter the U.S. illegally?  Finding a solution requires answers from the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.  A country trying to protect children is not the problem.