Immigration Debate: Are Unaccompanied Minors Migrants or Refugees?
Immigration Debate: Are Unaccompanied Minors Migrants or Refugees?
U.S. lawmakers should act responsibly and compassionately to address the child migrant crisis, AS/COA’s Susan Segal told World Politics Review.
The rapid influx of migrants from Central America, many of them children, into the United States from Mexico has created political and logistical turmoil in Washington over how to respond. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and others have pushed for the United States to treat at least some of these children as refugees, given that many are fleeing violence and deprivation back home.
In a statement last week, the UNHCR called on the United States to provide access to “asylum determination procedures” as part of a comprehensive solution.
That could have a major impact on U.S. immigration policy. “It’s hard to say how many children would qualify for asylum at this point,” Susan Segal, president and CEO of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, says in an email. She points to a UNHCR report in March that interviewed 400 children from Central America and found that more than half of them had “legitimate claims for international protection....”
Segal says that it is difficult to know whether the current crisis will cause the U.S. to re-evaluate the status of Central American children fleeing over the border. The U.S. Senate is considering action that would make it easier to return these children to their country of origin more quickly. Segal urges lawmakers to “act in a responsible and compassionate way” and to guarantee that the children have access to proper hearings with sufficient representation....
