By Juan Soto
Every day, unaccompanied children from Central America cross the border in hopes of reuniting with their families in the United States.
They are fleeing gang-ridden neighborhoods in Honduras and El Salvador, or poverty from impoverished rural areas in Guatemala. In the past several months, more than 47,000 kids without their parents were detained at the border trying to reach a better life in the United States.
Most of them have been released to relatives and since October approximately 3,350 of these migrant children arrived in New York state, mostly in the city and the New York metropolitan area, according to the New York Immigration Coalition,
Advocates said that because of this crisis, immigration community groups have been overwhelmed with requests to help the minors with their deportation proceedings or registering them for school.
In response to the influx of migrant children, the city has formed a task force to help them. The task force will be made up of city agencies to focus on legal, health, educational and other needs for the border kids.
“We have formed a task force to coordinate an interagency response to the developing situation,” said Nisha Agarwal, commissioner of the mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.
She added that the city is working with private organizations “to identify the best way to coordinate services and support.”
On July 17, the New York Immigration Coalition held a working group meeting to coordinate federal, state and city agencies’ efforts that provide services for the unaccompanied children.
“We need to take all that we do and coordinate it,” said Betsy Plum, outreach coordinator for the New York Immigration Coalition on deferred action for childhood arrivals. The coalition is coordinating the working group that includes the mayor’s task force.
Plum said that one of the main concerns is to provide the minors with legal help when their juvenile immigration proceedings come up. She calculated that about 60 percent of the kids “are eligible to stay [(in the United States].) if they have a lawyer by their side.”
New York Law School’s Safe Passage Project, part of the working group, pointed out that the surge in the migrant children dates back to the end of 2011 and 2012.
“There is nothing new for us,” said Claire Thomas, staff attorney at the Safe Passage Project, a group that provides pro bono attorneys to children in immigration court.
She said there are about five juvenile dockets every month in immigration court in New York. Each docket has between 53 and 65 cases.
“Between 15 to 20 children scheduled to appear in immigration court are new cases,” Thomas pointed out. “Since the time of their apprehension, it takes between four to six months before they go to court.”
Neena Dutta, of the New York City American Immigration Lawyers Association, agreed that it is urgent that resources are provided to assist the children.
“Getting them critical legal, health, social and other services will help these children better integrate into New York’s everyday life,” she said.
Reach reporter Juan Soto by e-mail at jsoto@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
