Download or read book Refugee Children Or Immigrant Teenagers The Precarious Rights and Belonging of Central American Unaccompanied Minors in the United States written by Chiara Galli and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation sheds light on a facet of migration world-wide that prior research, focused almost exclusively on adults, has largely neglected: the rise of unaccompanied child migration. In the past 10 years alone, over 400,000 children migrated to the U.S. without their parents, with 2019 seeing Central American unaccompanied minors once again arriving in record numbers. Based on ethnographic research in legal clinics and in-depth interviews with unaccompanied minors and their advocates, I trace these youths' experiences from the moment of their escape from violence in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, during their interactions with the U.S. immigration agencies that process and detain then, as they navigate legal struggles with the support of immigration attorneys to apply for refugee status, and as they experience the impact of these legal struggles on their subjectivities and on multiple facets of their lives as young immigrants in the United States. My research builds on scholarship in the fields of international migration and the sociology of law by examining how protections based on age in U.S. immigration law shape immigrants' access to legal status and incorporation. Unaccompanied minors inhabit dual legal and social positions in the US. On the one hand, as minors -and children who enter the US alone, without their parents--, they are seen as deserving and protected by policies that grant them more favorable access to the asylum process than adults. However, as non-citizens -and immigrants from the Global South--, like adults, the state perceives them as suspicious asylum-claimants and even criminalizes them as potential gang members, seeking to exclude them. My research shows how these two forces --protection and exclusion --are in tension with one another in the volatile U.S. context, as advocates' demands that the state respect human rights norms and protect vulnerable children compete with state prerogatives to limit overall levels of immigration. Protection continuously ebbs and flows, crucially affecting the life outcomes of immigrant youths and their odds of obtaining asylum at any given moment in time. These odds have become increasingly slim as the Trump administration intervenes to systematically dismantle the rights of unaccompanied minors and asylum-seekers. To obtain refugee status and other humanitarian forms of relief, unaccompanied minors must satisfy narrowly defined legal criteria and comply with a series of behavioral restrictions. Youths who cannot do so remain unprotected, undocumented, and at risk of deportation, despite their vulnerability. By exposing the gaps between protections for unaccompanied minors on the books and their implementation, this research has important implications for immigration policy and for the lives of children who migrate on their own.
Download or read book Young Migrants Crossing Multiple Borders to the North written by Ana Vila-Freyer and published by Transnational Press London. This book was released on 2021-11-20 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our focus on youth migration aims to unfold the theoretical and political constraints at play for these young migrants as they defy borders and national boundaries on their northbound journey. By placing the emphasis on young persons, this volume seeks to ponder on the challenges their movement is positing to governments and societies of the countries they are crossing by or settling in. Our goal is to go outside the perspectives constructed from a labor, adult-centered, breadwinner and family-head perspective. We recognize that the conditions that force them to flee uncertain economic conditions or to seek personal security may intersect, but by focusing on young migrants as actors in search of a decent and fair life, as well as on the hopes and resilience that every young person has, the point of view diverges. As they may be permanent or transit sojourners in local communities, we also propose to include the spaces, as the social and political communities reacts to this youth mobility. The chapters contained herein follow the migrant’s movement from South to North. Therefore, the authors focused on the analysis of several emerging issues in the migration dynamics in North America. Contents Introduction – Ana Vila Freyer and Liliana Meza González CHAPTER 1. GUATEMALA-MÉXICO: THE LAST BORDER BETWEEN THE EXCLUSION AND THE FULFILLMENT OF DREAMS OF YOUNG PEOPLE FROM THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA – Sandra Herrera-Ruiz and Lesbia Ortiz Martínez CHAPTER 2. SUSPENDED LIVES OF CENTRAL AMERICAN YOUTH IN MEXICO: BETWEEN INCLUSION AND SURVIVAL – Martha Luz Rojas Wiesner and Susann Hjorth Boisen CHAPTER 3. (DIS) CONTINUITIES IN CENTRAL AMERICA’S MIGRATORY MOBILITY. THE POST-MITCH GENERATION – Javier Urbano Reyes CHAPTER 4. IRREGULAR MIGRATION AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING FOR THE PURPOSE OF SEXUAL EXPLOITATION: AN ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC POLICY INSTRUMENTS FOR COMBATING IT IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO – Jesús Rubio Campos and Carolina Guadiana Sánchez CHAPTER 5. WOULD YOU PLEASE TELL ME, WHICH WAY I OUGHT TO GO? CENTRAL AMERICANS CROSSING THROUGH OR SETTLING IN GUANAJUATO – Ana Vila Freyer and Eloy Estrada Lozano CHAPTER 6. THE ACCESS TO PUBLIC MEDICAL SERVICES AND TO FORMAL JOBS FOR YOUNG CENTRAL AMERICAN MIGRANTS IN MEXICO, BEFORE AND AFTER THE 2011 MIGRATION LAW – Liliana Meza González and Ken Nishikata CHAPTER 7. THE DISPLACEMENT AND ECONOMIC INSERTION OF REFUGEES FROM CENTRAL AMERICA IN MEXICO – Rodolfo Cruz Piñeiro and Rafael Alonso Hernández López CHAPTER 8. THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION’S CENTRAL AMERICAN MINORS (CAM) PROGRAM (2015-2017): A SAFE AND LEGAL PATH TO THE UNITED STATES? – Chiara Galli CHAPTER 9. THE EDUCATIONAL AND CAREER GOALS OF THE CHILDREN OF UNDOCUMENTED PARENTS IN THE UNITED STATES: A MIXED-METHOD STUDY OF DACA ELIGIBLE STUDENTS AT A CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UNIVERSITY – Nicole Dubus CHAPTER 10. YOUNG INDIGENOUS MIGRANTS FROM SOUTHERN MEXICO IN THE U.S. – Tania Cruz-Salazar CHAPTER 11. INTEGRATION INTO THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM AND THE JOB MARKET AMONG YOUNG MIGRANTS IN MEXICO – Ana Escoto and Claudia Masferrer
Download or read book Handbook of Human Mobility and Migration written by Ettore Recchi and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2024-01-18 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While mobility trajectories and experiences are key in migrants’ lives, they are relatively neglected in the field of migration studies. Using mobility as a unique angle of approach, the Handbook of Human Mobility and Migration is a pioneering assessment of the theoretical concerns, empirical questions and issues of governance surrounding international mobility and migration today.
Download or read book Precarious Protections written by Chiara Galli and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More children than ever are crossing international borders alone to seek asylum worldwide. In the past decade, over a half million children have fled from Central America to the United States, seeking safety and a chance to continue lives halted by violence. Yet upon their arrival, they fail to find the protection that our laws promise, based on the broadly shared belief that children should be safeguarded. A meticulously researched ethnography, Precarious Protections chronicles the experiences and perspectives of Central American unaccompanied minors and their immigration attorneys as they pursue applications for refugee status in the US asylum process. Chiara Galli debunks assumptions about asylum, including the idea that people are being denied protection because they file bogus claims. In practice, the United States interprets asylum law far more narrowly than what is necessary to recognize real-world experiences of escape from life-threatening violence. This is especially true for children from Central America. Galli reveals the formidable challenges of lawyering with children and exposes the human toll of the US immigration bureaucracy.
Download or read book Undocumented and Unaccompanied written by Cecilia Menjívar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-11-29 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the migration of undocumented minors arriving recently to the United States and the European Union, flows that are often labeled ‘undocumented’, ‘illegal’, or ‘irregular’ and due to their sudden increase, they have been described in the media, policy circles, and scholarly work as a ‘surge’ or a ‘crisis’. Leading scholars examine the intricacies of the contexts that these minors encounter in the localities where they arrive, including the legal and ethical frameworks for protecting unaccompanied minors, governmental decisions about the ‘best interests’ of the children, these minors’ expressions of their own best interests or agency as they navigate immigration and social service systems, conditions in detention centers, and the health and social service needs in receiving communities. Though definitions and techniques for counting unaccompanied migrant minors differ between the U.S. and the EU, this book underscores the immigrant minors’ common vulnerabilities and strategies they adopt to protect themselves and improve their circumstances. At the same time, contributors to the volume highlight common challenges that both European and U.S. governments face as they develop policy strategies and legal mechanisms to attempt to balance the best interests of these children with national interests of the countries in which they settle. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
Download or read book Slipping Through the Cracks written by Rosa Ehrenreich and published by Human Rights Watch. This book was released on 1997 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rights of aliens in general
Download or read book Reunited written by Ernesto Castañeda and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2024-05-08 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the second decade of the twenty-first century, an increasing number of children from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala began arriving without parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. In many cases, the parents had left for the United States years earlier to earn money that they could send back home. In Reunited sociologists Ernesto Castañeda and Daniel Jenks explain the reasons for Central American youths’ migration, describe the journey, and document how the young migrants experience separation from and subsequent reunification with their families. In interviews with Central American youth, their sponsors, and social services practitioners in and around Washington, D.C., Castañeda and Jenks find that Central American minors migrate on their own mainly for three reasons: gang violence, lack of educational and economic opportunity, and a longing for family reunification. The authors note that youth who feel comfortable leaving and have feelings of belonging upon arrival integrate quickly and easily while those who experience trauma in their home countries and on their way to the United States face more challenges. Castañeda and Jenks recount these young migrants’ journey from Central America to the U.S. border, detailing the youths’ difficulties passing through Mexico, proving to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials that they have a legitimate fear of returning or are victims of trafficking, and staying in shelters while their sponsorship, placement, and departure are arranged. The authors also describe the tensions the youth face when they reunite with family members they may view as strangers. Despite their biological, emotional, and financial bonds to these relatives, the youth must learn how to relate to new authority figures and decide whether or how to follow their rules. The experience of migrating can have a lasting effect on the mental health of young migrants, Castañeda and Jenks note. Although the authors find that Central American youths’ mental health improves after migrating to the United States, the young migrants remain at risk of further problems. They are likely to have lived through traumatizing experiences that inhibit their integration. Difficulty integrating, in turn, creates new stressors that exacerbate PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Consequently, schools and social service organizations are critical, the authors argue, for enhancing youth migrants’ sense of belonging and their integration into their new communities. Bilingual programs, Spanish-speaking PTA groups, message boards, mentoring of immigrant children, and after-school programs for members of reunited families are all integral in supporting immigrant youth as they learn English, finish high school, apply to college, and find jobs. Offering a complex exploration of youth migration and family reunification, Reunited provides a moving account of how young Central American migrants make the journey north and ultimately reintegrate with their families in the United States.
Download or read book Whose Child Am I written by Susan J. Terrio and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2015-05 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2014, the arrest and detention of thousands of desperate young migrants at the southwest border of the United States exposed the U.S. government's shadowy juvenile detention system, which had escaped public scrutiny for years. This book tells the story of six Central American and Mexican children who are driven from their homes by violence and deprivation, and who embark alone, risking their lives, on the perilous journey north. They suffer coercive arrests at the U.S. border, then land in detention, only to be caught up in the battle to obtain legal status. Whose Child Am I? looks inside a vast, labyrinthine system by documenting in detail the experiences of these youths, beginning with their arrest by immigration authorities, their subsequent placement in federal detention, followed by their appearance in deportation proceedings and release from custody, and, finally, ending with their struggle to build new lives in the United States. This book shows how the U.S. government got into the business of detaining children and what we can learn from this troubled history.
Download or read book Dangerous Passage Central America in Crisis and the Exodus of Unaccompanied Minors written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Protecting Migrant Children written by Mary Crock and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2018-09-28 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unprecedented numbers of children are crossing international borders seeking safety. Framed around compelling case studies explaining why children are on the move in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania, this book explores the jurisprudence and processes used by nations to adjudicate children’s protection claims. The book includes contributions from leading scholars in immigration, refugee law, children’s rights and human trafficking which critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of international and domestic laws with the aim of identifying best practice for migrant children.
Download or read book The Rights of Unaccompanied Minors written by Yvonne Vissing and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-07-22 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the various challenges faced by migrant unaccompanied children, using a clinical sociological approach and a global perspective. It applies a human rights and comparative framework to examine the reception of unaccompanied children in European, North American, South American, Asian and African countries. Some of the important issues the volume discusses are: access of displaced unaccompanied children to justice across borders and juridical contexts; voluntary guardianship for unaccompanied children; the diverse but complementary needs of unaccompanied children in care, which if left unaddressed can have serious implications on their social integration in the host societies; and the detention of migrant children as analyzed against the most recent European and international human rights law standards. This is a one-of-a-kind volume bringing together perspectives from child rights policy chairs across the world on a global issue. The contributions reflect the authors’ diverse cultural contexts and academic and professional backgrounds, and hence, this volume synthesizes theory with practice through rich firsthand experiences, along with theoretical discussions. It is addressed not only to academics and professionals working on and with migrant children, but also to a wider, discerning public interested in a better understanding of the rights of unaccompanied children.
Download or read book Welcoming Unaccompanied Alien Children to the United States written by Nayla Rush and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 13 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The constant flows of unaccompanied minors from Central America illegally crossing the border from Mexico to the United States have been met with rather welcoming measures by this administration. After trying to fit them under the trafficking umbrella, the U.S. government opted to treat these children as potential refugees. Given the limited scope of the Central American Minors (CAM) Refugee/Parole Program, new mechanisms are being developed with the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to process these children in the region and then fly them directly to the United States. The question remains: Why bring these “child refugees” here since UNHCR, among others, stresses family reunion or placement in a family from the child’s own culture? Unless, of course, family members are already in the United States and this entire process is nothing but a disguised vehicle for family reunification.
Download or read book Unaccompanied Children from Central America written by Congressional Research Service and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-02-10 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In recent months, U.S. policy makers have expressed concerns about a significant increase in the number of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) being apprehended at the U.S. border. More than 63,000 such children were apprehended over the first 10 months of the fiscal year -- a 100% increase compared to same time period of FY2013. This unexpected surge of children has strained U.S. government resources and created a complex crisis with humanitarian implications for the United States and the international community. Although the flow of unaccompanied minors appears to have slowed since July, experts warn it may accelerate again after the summer heat passes. As Congress continues to debate legislative options to address the foreign policy dimensions of the situation, there are a variety of interrelated issues that it might take into consideration. These include Central American governments' limited capacities to receive and reintegrate repatriated children, and their inability and/or unwillingness to address the pervasive insecurity and lack of socioeconomic opportunities in their countries that cause many children to leave. Other issues Congress might consider include the extent to which the Mexican government is capable of limiting the transmigration of Central Americans through its territory and how other international actors are responding to the spike in apprehensions of unaccompanied children"--Preliminary page.
Download or read book Unaccompanied written by Emily Ruehs-Navarro and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2022-02-22 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores how humanitarian aid workers help and hinder the care of unaccompanied children as they arrive in the United States Every year, tens of thousands of children cross into the United States without a legal guardian at their side, often fleeing violence and poverty in their countries of origin. In Unaccompanied, Emily Ruehs-Navarro shows us one aspect of their heartbreaking journeys, as seen through the eyes of the aid workers who try—but too often fail—to help them. Drawing on interviews with aid workers, migrant children, and others, Ruehs-Navarro follows unaccompanied youth as they seek help from a wide range of professionals. From legal relief organizations to family reunification specialists, she shows us how different aid workers may choose to work for, with, or against unaccompanied immigrant youth, deciding whether they should be treated as refugees, child dependents, or, in some cases, criminals. Ruehs-Navarro highlights how aid workers, and the systems they represent, often harm the very children they are designed to help. Unaccompanied brings into focus the plight of immigrant youth at the border, illuminating our failure to manage the human casualties of a growing crisis.
Download or read book United States of America Why Am I Here written by Amnesty International USA. and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of concerns -- Background: U.S. and international law -- Unaccompanied children and the U.S. Detention system -- Conditions of detention -- Concerns about access to assistance and support in detention -- Release of children from detention -- Lack of legal representation, failure to appoint guardians and accommodate unique needs of children in courtrooms -- The future for unaccompanied children in the U.S.
Download or read book The Politics of Fear written by Sarah Hill Rogerson and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thousands of Central American children have migrated to the United States by themselves in the last two years. More are on the way as their governments continue to expose them to violence, neglect, poverty and exploitation, compelling them to flee to the border between Mexico and the United States. Humanitarian and pragmatic concerns raise questions of how best to deal with their migration, questions that have been asked with similar migrations of unaccompanied children to the United States in the past. This paper focuses on how politicians and government officials have consistently responded to those concerns with fear-based rhetoric. I argue that fear has colored legal developments regarding unaccompanied minors in a way that has made them uniquely vulnerable to systemic abuse, impeded due process and subordinated them in the legal order. However, there is a floor of Constitutional protections afforded to these children that has been slowly built in recent years, largely through public law litigation filed to correct these injustices. This article contextualizes recent developments to secure rights for unaccompanied immigrant children at our southern border, rooting these efforts in the racism, exclusion and militarization of the border itself and marking potential judicial points of departure in securing more rights for children and forcing immigration authorities to safeguard children's dependencies, rather than exploit them.
Download or read book Unaccompanied Alien Children written by William Kandel and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-10-20 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The number of unaccompanied alien children (UAC, unaccompanied children) apprehended at the Southwest border between U.S. ports of entry while attempting to enter the United States without authorization has increased substantially in recent years: from 16,067 in FY2011 to 24,481 in FY2012 to 38,759 in FY2013. In FY2014, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehended 68,541 UAC, a record at that time. Since FY2014, UAC apprehensions have fluctuated considerably, declining to 39,970 in FY2015, increasing to 59,692 in FY2016, declining to 41,435 in FY2017, and increasing to 50,036 in FY2018. In the first 11 months of FY2019, they reached 72,873, a level that now exceeds the FY2014 peak. UAC are defined in statute as children under age 18 who lack lawful immigration status in the United States, and who are either without a parent or legal guardian in the United States, or without a parent or legal guardian in the United States who is available to provide care and physical custody. Two statutes and a legal settlement directly affect U.S. policy on the treatment and administrative processing of UAC: the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-457), the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296), and the Flores Settlement Agreement of 1997 (Flores). Agencies in the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Health and Human Services (HHS) share responsibility for the processing, treatment, and placement of unaccompanied children. DHS's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehends and detains UAC arrested at the border. DHS's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) handles custody transfer and repatriation responsibilities, apprehends UAC in the interior of the country, and represents the government in removal proceedings. HHS's Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) coordinates and implements the care and placement of UAC in appropriate custodial settings. In FY2009, children from Mexico accounted for 82% of the 19,688 UAC apprehensions at the Southwest border, while those from the "Northern Triangle" countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras accounted for 17%. By the first 10 months of FY2019, the proportions had reversed, with Mexican nationals comprising 12% of the 69,157 UAC apprehensions at the border and the three Central American countries comprising 85%. The Obama and Trump Administrations, as well as Congress, have taken several steps since 2014 to respond to UAC migrants. During 2014, when UAC apprehensions surged far beyond previous levels, the Obama Administration developed a working group to coordinate the efforts of relevant agencies. It also opened temporary "influx" shelters and holding facilities to accommodate the large number of UAC apprehended at the border, initiated programs to address root causes of child migration in Central America, and requested funding from Congress to deal with the crisis. In turn, Congress considered supplemental appropriations for FY2014 and provided increased funding for UAC-related activities in ORR and DHS appropriations for subsequent fiscal years. The Trump Administration, facing relatively high levels of UAC apprehensions, as well as record high levels of family unit apprehensions, has used temporary influx shelter housing for unaccompanied minors while also attempting to reduce both the flow of migrants illegally crossing the Southwest border and limit who can apply for asylum. The Administration has implemented a biometric and biographic information-sharing agreement between ORR and DHS. During six weeks in 2018, it implemented a "zero tolerance" policy targeting illegal border crossing that effectively separated thousands of children from their parents and reclassified them as UAC. The Administration has also proposed regulations to replace Flores and allow ICE to detain parents and children together indefinitely.
