We ask countries worldwide to help refugees, we must do the same.
As a longtime staff member of a humanitarian aid organization, I know how compassionate the American people are. When the International Rescue Committee has issued appeals to support humanitarian crises in places like Somalia, Haiti and the Philippines, Americans have rushed to assist. Through our work with refugees resettled in the United States, I have met generous and kind Americans who volunteer their time to mentor refugees from countries as far flung as Bhutan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq, as they begin their lives here.
So it is disturbing to watch the debate unfold around the unaccompanied minors now crossing into the United States from our southwestern borders. The headlines describe them as "illegal immigrants," and the rhetoric has become so heated that for fear of backlash city councils across the country are reluctant to talk openly about the ways in which they can assist. While some members of Congress have been quite strident in their discourse, President Obama must push back forcefully and return the focus to the humanitarian nature of this crisis.
In fact, let's stop referring to them as unaccompanied minors and talk about them as who they are: children, some as young as 3 years old. Twenty percent of them are under the age of 12. They are supposed to be living playful lives on the streets of the neighborhoods they call home, but because of unrelenting violence, they are fleeing for their lives.
These children were born in the Northern Triangle of Central America: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. While there is little doubt that some of them have come to the United States to escape extreme poverty or to reunite with family, many have fled because they have a real and well-founded fear of persecution – and in some instances, death – in their home country. The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime cites Honduras as the murder capital of the world. El Salvador has the second highest murder rate in a country not at war. Gangs and drug cartels terrorize entire communities, threatening children who are scared for their lives. Tragically, murder and rape are common occurrences. According to an Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees report released in May, 58% of these children reported that they had already suffered forms of violence or were fleeing to avoid becoming a target of violence.
In short, many of these children fear persecution and should be considered refugees.
The United States has a longstanding history of supporting refugees. Right now, through the State Department and United States Agency for International Development, the U.S. provides support to countries like Jordan and Lebanon, overwhelmed by the Syrian refugee crisis unfolding on their borders. In Lebanon, refugees account for 25% of the population in the country, and the U.S. continues to press the Lebanese government to keep its borders open to protect Syrians fleeing from harm's way. In the remotest corners of the Democratic Republic of Congo the U.S. provides funding for vital health care services to those fleeing violence. In Ethiopia's most drought ridden lands cutting edge technology is deployed to bring in clean water to refugees forced to flee wars in Somalia and Sudan. Pick a country in turmoil and it is likely that the U.S., through programs initiated by both Republican and Democratic administrations, is involved in some way to support the refugees and people displaced by its war.
So why such a different and emphatically hostile response when the crisis is this close to home? America must practice what it preaches. If we ask our friends across the globe to keep their borders open to legitimate refugees, we must do so as well.
All of these children, no matter what their reason for coming to the United States, have the right to make their claim for asylum or other protections enshrined in international law. They must be able to do so under conditions both appropriate to their age and to the fact that they have often suffered extreme trauma.
The president has rightly asked Congress for $3.7 billion to help address this crisis. While much of this request is focused on security at the border, it is imperative that the humanitarian needs of these children are not left on the sidelines. The $1.8 billion requested for the Department Health and Human Services to care for these children while their immigration status is being determined must be fulfilled.
Congress should act now, before breaking for the August recess. Additionally, rather than warning parents against sending their children here, the President should go to the border to meet these children and explain their plight unambiguously to the American public.
To respond in any other way goes against the compassionate spirit for which this country is known.
George Biddle is the executive vice president of the International Rescue Committee.
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