Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

August 24, 2008

US commits genocide of infants and children at the border

US violates rights of infants and children
In this news article, La Jornada in Mexico reports that the United States is violating the rights of infants and children by abandoning them at the border

Translation of:
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/08/11/index.php?section=politica&article=018n1pol
In 7 months, the United States deported 90,000 Mexican children
Others remain abandoned, left to their luck on the border
As of this writing, during the first seven months of the year, at least 90,000 Mexican children were deported by the government of the United States, in the context of its anti-immigrant politics, according to a PRI task force study group of work on immigration matters to Mexico's House of Representatives. Also about 300,000 adults have been deported. The report states that 15 per cent of the children, approximately 13,500, live on the Mexican border, without any type of governmental protection. However, ideally they are attended by religious institutions or non-governmental organizations.The coordinator of the group and secretary of the Commission of Population, Borders and Immigration Matters, the deputy from PRI Edmundo Ramírez Martínez, specified that the children are entrusted to "polleros" or human traffickers to be taken to the United States with their parents. If the parents attempt to regain their children, they are deported. The children are practically left on the Mexican border, since the families, for fear of having the same luck, do not claim them. Also, the report explains that for every three adult deportees from the United States, one Mexican origin child is left in this nation. The report said that many of the minors accompanied parents to the north to find work, but they were deported by the authorities of this country.
Violated rights
On the northern border of Mexico there are children, "parked" who remain in the care of DIF hostels, religious or civil organizations. But, a very high percentage devote themselves to begging to survive and to try to go to the United States. The report detailed that the deportation of infants has a major impact, with consequences felt in areas with high migratory flow such as: Michoacán, Jalisco, Zacatecas and Guanajuato.
The report expressed remorse for the systematic violation to the rights of the infants on the part of the authorities of the United States and the absence of a program of support on the part of the Mexican government.
The legislative report exhibits that the International Convention of the Rights of the Children determines that in case of minors they must not be deported but repatriated. But in fact, it is believed that only 25 per cent arrive directly to their state of origin, the rest suffer the same luck as the adults who are left at the border and there they are left to their luck.
Ramírez Martínez described the difference between deportation and repatriation as "one of funds." The first one implies practically an expulsion, whereas the second one forces the country to take responsibility of the care and tutelage of the minors.

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