Community Advocacy: Local Service Organizations and Migrant Children

• In Event: 35.055 - Community Resistance to the Forced Separation of Migrant Children

Abstract

The separation of migrant children from their guardians has brought together several organizations local organizations to help address the inequities of this corrupt policy. This paper explores how several institutions and organizations have united to resist a divisive policy and to support the reunification of these families (American Federtion of Teacher, 2014). In the border town of El Paso, Texas, U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso gathered at the Marcelino Serna Point of Entry in Tornillo to protest the U.S. policy of separating immigrant children from their parents and housing them in a nearby facility. This was but one of the many instances the community of El Paso bonded together to push for the end of this terrible policy.
Before the April 2018 zero tolerance policy, “adults without criminal histories who crossed the border with children were not referred for prosecution (Kates, 2018). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement is tasked with placing children in government facilities or short-term foster care while locating their closest relative in the U.S. (Kates, 2018). Detention facilities include an abandoned Walmart and tent cities. Near El Paso, in Tornillo, Texas, one tent city houses unaccompanied 16 and 17-year-old boys. Texas Representative Will Hurd (Republican) stated, “There are 20 kids per tent, there’s two adults in the room… My constituents that are outraged…they should know that I’m outraged too. What’s happening in Tornillo is a symptom of a larger problem.” (Villarreal, 2018).
A preliminary injunction from a federal judge in San Diego called for children to be united with their families with 30 days (Tchekmedyian & Davis, 2018). However, despite the push for quick resolution, many of the children still have not been reunification.
El Paso has always experiences the “international ebb and flow of people” (Escobar, 2018). Escobar goes on to describe the changes to the border:
Here in El Paso, we’ve had a front-row seat to watch the militarization of the border: There is a wall, drones fly overhead and state troopers and National Guard members have been sent to our community. And, of course, images of these tactics, seen on screens around the country, further fuel misperceptions and xenophobia. (Escobar, 2018)
El Paso has been a gateway for immigrants and refugees including in 2016 a large influx of unaccompanied children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras (Martinez, 2016). More recently local shelters such as Annunciation House have provided shelter for 30 parents and will assist them in finding their children (Flores, 2018).
We found that these organizations (religious, community-based, non-governmental) were driven by a recognition that an injustice was being perpetuated against marginalized groups. Hundreds of people gathered outside the Tornillo “tent city” to protest and a few days later “more than 1,000 people marched at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s El Paso Procession Center” (El Paso Inc. Staff, 2018). The completed paper explores the roles of these and other organizations as they address the crisis as well as the motivation to address the inequities.

Authors

• Angus S. Mungal, University of Mississippi

• Orlando Alberto Garcia, El Paso Community College

• Keri Moe, El Paso Community College