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A LOST AND FOUND FOR KIDS
The Tijuana Temporary Shelter for Minors was established as a test case to alleviate the burden of young children who are caught trying to cross into the United States illegally, often smuggled without a family member with the help of a coyote or pollero. Just a few feet from the border line, the 25-foot trailer houses a nursery, a room with two bunk beds, a small office, kitchenette and a sitting room with a TV. The shelter opened in February 2004. Since then, it has processed 11,400 children (65% boys, 35% girls).
It is difficult to estimate how many children are smuggled into the United States, but the Tijuana sector border patrol deports a steady stream of kids every day. During the summer, the number of deported minors nearly doubles due to summer vacation from school. About 80 percent of these children are trying to join family members already in the U.S. The remainder are heading north in hopes of finding a job and a better life.
As we watched the faces of the children in the first of two daily vanloads delivered by border patrol, all we could see was fear and bewilderment. The success of the shelter is daunting and almost unbelievable -- unless you spend a day with the three government workers who manage to reunite 85 percent of the children with family members. Armed with only a phone line and the Internet, which they just began using last month, they are able to unite unaccompanied minors with a close relative by 5 PM. The remaining 15% are placed in an overnight shelter, where they are reunited with family members within a week or two.
With kids ranging from seven days to 17 years old, it is difficult to fathom what the process was like before. We asked the director of the center, Enrique Mendez, what life was like before the DIF (Desarrollo Integral de la Familia) trailer. Mendez described the chaos of immigration officials juggling paperwork with diaper changing. Today, the care these frightened children receive as they enter through the gate into Mexico is remarkable. They are provided with food (cold breakfast provided by the federal government), first aid, toys, even a missing belt or shoelace (Department of Homeland Security treats young detainees no differently. They make children remove all these items when detained.) More importantly, they provide children reassurance that they are safe and will be home soon.
Due to this shelter’s proven effectiveness, a few others have sprouted up along the border in other states. With such little resources, this handful of children’s shelters is easing the impact of immigration policies on children torn between two countries.
A MOTHER'S DILEMMA
Ten years ago, Aramida Gramajo made an impossible choice.
You’ve heard Aramida Gramajo’s story before. She’s an illegal immigrant who works for less than minimum wage in Inglewood, California cleaning motel rooms. She barely made it across the blinding desert to cross illegally to Texas. She is a hard-working woman trying to do what’s best for her family and children. You’ve heard this story before.
But have you put yourself in this story? Imagine leaving your five children in Guatemala with your aging parents and traveling 2000 miles to make enough money to support that family.
Leaving her children was a trade off for Aramida. She left to make money but she also left a husband who repeatedly raped her and abused her. Leaving meant she could not be there to protect her children from him. Leaving also meant that they would be able to eat.
According to the 2006 CIA World Factbook, 75% of the population of Guatemala lives below the poverty line, this in comparison to the 12% who live below the poverty line here in the United States. The infant mortality rate in Guatemala is about 30 deaths for every 1000 births and according to data compiled by the World Bank , 23% of children under the age of five are malnourished. The United States’s infant mortality rate is about six deaths for every 1000 babies born.
After paying $4,000 dollars to get to the United States (See: the cost of smuggling) Aramida gave herself 14 days to find a job and get to work.
(Watch Aramida talk about what it was like to leave her children and come to the United States.)
Slowly, with the help of her sister, she was able to gather enough money to bring two of her daughters to America. She paid $4,000 to get her oldest daughter, Christi, over the border, and $5,000 for middle daughter Suli. But Suli’s experience crossing the border was traumatic.
(Watch Aramida talk about her daughter Suli’s trek.)
It’s been almost ten years since she’s seen her other three children, Analucia, Evelyn, and Wilbur, but with the help of a new teleconferencing service called Amigo Latino, she was able to see her children and parents face to face just a few weeks ago.
Ten years is a long time to be away from family, so while the reunion was happy, the emotions of guilt, tears and sadness were also along for the ride.
(Watch Aramida see her family and Wilbur, the child she left when he was a baby, for the first time in almost a decade.)
The teleconference pulled Aramida in multiple directions. She has been unable to send money home recently because she has been paying for Suli to receive therapy to deal with what the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father and the coyote who smuggled her into the U.S. But Aramida promised her mother she would start to send money again. Her mother made it clear that Aramida should not forget about the children who are back in Guatemala.
And Aramida hasn’t forgotten about them. But she does say that after what happened to Suli, she is scared to try to bring anymore children to the U.S.
Near the end of the hour-long experience her elderly father spoke up to say goodbye. He imparted fatherly wisdom on Aramida and Suli as they sat quietly listening with tears rolling down their faces. They all knew that this would most likely be the last time they would see him alive.
After the teleconference Aramida expressed the frustration and conflicting emotions many women in her position must feel: a desire to get her kids to America but just not sure how to make that happen.
(Watch Aramida’s final thoughts about her children's future.)
"A LOST AND FOUND FOR KIDS" CREDITS
Reporter/Writer:Laura Cavanaugh
Producer: Laura Cavanaugh & Shawna Thomas
A.P.: Melanie Roe
Videographer: Brandi Fowler, Will Etling, Shawna Thomas, Laura Cavanaugh
Editor: Laura Cavanaugh
"A MOTHER'S DILEMMA" CREDITS
Reporter/Writer: Shawna Thomas
Producer: Laura Cavanaugh
A.P.: Melanie Roe
Videographers: Will Etling, Brandi Fowler, Laura Cavanaugh, Shawna Thomas
Editor: Shawna Thomas
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Comments
Jesse, 2007-03-10 18:43:42 -- Flag for review
This is a sad story-I will tell you that I too went thru a similar things as a child aproximately 6. My parents did not pick me up and i ended up at an orphanage for weeks. In the end thinsg are better for the family-while it seems cruel to attempt this with your children, it is in responce to severe conditions
LOURDES GROVES FLORES, 2007-05-18 06:33:49 -- Flag for review
THE ONLY WAY TO STOP ALL THE CHAOS IS FOR THE U.S., PAIN AND SUFFERING FOR ALL PEOPLE INBOLVED IS FOR THE LAWS TO REALLY BE ENFORCED. FOR IF THE U.S. KEEPS GOING THE WAY IT IS, THE AMERICAN DREAM FOR THE PEOPLE THAT WERE BORN IN U.S. AND THE PEOPLE THAT IMMIGRATED LEGALLY WILL SOON BECOME THEIR WORST AND MOST EXPENSIVE NIGHTMARE. WETHER THE NATION IS RAN BY REPUBLICANS OR DEMOCRATS, THIS NATION AND IT'S PEOPLE DESERVE A HEALTHY,SAFE, AND PROSPEROUS FUTURE. THAT WILL NEVER COME TO BE IF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS KEEP BEING REWARDED , THERE ARE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEING TRYING TO COME TO THE U.S. LEGALLY. WHY NOT GO THAT ROUTE AND IN ADDITION BE FIRM WITH THE PENALTIES OF THE EMPLOYERS THAT HIRE ILLEGAL. THERE ARE MILLIONS OF LEGAL PEOPLE THAT ARE UNEMPLOYED, THAT NEED TO PAY FOR THEIR EDUCATION LOANS BUT CAN'T BECAUSE THOSE JOBS ARE HELD BY PEOPLE THAT ARE HERE ILLEGALLY. IN ADDITION THE BORDERS CITIES ARE FULL OF STUDENTS THAT COME TO AMERICAN SCHOOLS WITHOUT HAVING TO PAY TAXES. THIS BECAUSE MANY PREGNANT WOMEN CROSSOVER TO THE U.S. HAVE THEIR CHILDREN FOR FREE IN A HOSPITAL OF THEIR CHOICE, GO BACK TO MEXICO. LEAVING THE THE TAX PAYER TO PICK UP THE TAB. UNLESS ALL THIS THINGS ARE CORRECTED THE U.S. WILL NEVER BE THE NATION IT ONCE WAS.
Jen Cullerton, 2007-07-13 18:44:22 -- Flag for review
Si alguien quiere decirme su historia, me gustaria escribirlo. Por favor mandame un email jencullerton@mac.com
Jen Cullerton, 2007-07-13 18:44:26 -- Flag for review
Si alguien quiere decirme su historia, me gustaria escribirlo. Por favor mandame un email jencullerton@mac.com
Greg Smith, 2007-09-18 22:08:56 -- Flag for review
If someone broke into your HOME and took everything they could, broke laws, painted grafitti on your walls, shot up your neighborhood, sold drugs from your front door, formed gangs to create more crime and lawlessness, you would be pretty darn upset and would NOT feel like helping the criminals.
That is how LEGAL Americans are feeling about people breaking into our COUNTRY. Criminals who break the law the second they step over the border, continue on a path that further divides them from mainstream America. Immigrants USED to want to become Americans. They USED to want to learn and speak our language. They USED to learn and live our culture. They USED to try to become contributing members of American society. American was known as a melting pot where everyone became the same, working and living for the same goal. Today, America is a tossed salad with each group wanting, not to blend and go together, but to maintain their own taste and to heck with the rest of us.
The immigrants flooding into the part of the country where I live could care less about learning our language and culture. They want to stay Mexican. They want to come here and take and take and take. They overcrowd our schools. They ruin our natural places with their litter. They make driving on our highways very very dangerous. They convert whole neighborhoods to little Mexicos with their own culture and language. They could care less about becoming Americans. They are here to take advantage of our soft hearts.
Anonymous, 2007-10-17 21:33:22 -- Flag for review
Well now, if hispanics are infact taking your jobs... why don't you get your white behind and go pick cucumber, onion, pick cherries, cut the asparagus that you eat, go kill the cow that you eat, and go milk the cow when you want milk! So hispanics are doing this right? they do the farm labor you refuse to do...let's see know, not all people are the same and being born in a country other than the U.S does not define a person or their values. I am proud of my heritage and I work just as hard as you do and pay my taxes just as every U.S. citizen. We are a multi-racial country and you are not about to stop that. I am not saying that coming to the US illegally is ok, but you should not be discriminating due to skin color.
Anonymous, 2008-03-09 19:23:18 -- Flag for review
I agree Hispanics are only taking the jobs that white people or Legals dont want if they wanted them then maybe people wouldnt want to give them those jobs think about it i mean many hispanics just go and see if they can get a job out in the fields why becuase they know that no one wants them why do u think that mostly they have the worst jobs ever? becuase they dont care as long as they can get atleast 2 dollers as long as they can help out ther families and if you dont suppost the hard working hispnics then all i really want to say is FUCK YOU its not right for you to take something away from them that you dont even want in the first place.
hispanics are hard working people just like everyone else but five times more!
Rosie, 2008-07-24 15:32:17 -- Flag for review
Hi....I was just wondering if you happen to have the address and phone number to the casa del imigrante in Tijuana, Mexico
becky a real american, 2008-08-29 20:28:13 -- Flag for review
Listen here I am an honord american citizen and I 100000000 percent agree with the top comments....I am 18yrs old full blooded american and im so sick of seeing hispanics fuck yous go back to your fuckin country where you belong.....we would take the shitty jobs we just can't get to them fast enough because every mile we go for that job 15 of your kind got the job n the next 14 ...it is rediculous to me I don't care if yous think im a racist I am more than concerned for my son and his future because yous fuck like jack rabbits and make a whole army of guallies...I can't take it any more everywhere I go that's all I see....if u want to come to america do it legally ...the only reason yous get jobs is because you want to milk our country for our money and free education you damn roaches stop coming here and jumping on welfare ...every hispanic makes me sick yous don't raise your kids with respect or teach them ne thing but how to steal n have sex ...yous ruined america its not hispanica in 30 years we will be infested with roaches every where and yous will be the reason america came to shit if yous had respect and taught your children values and manners and wore CONDOMS OR HAVE YOUR TUBES TIED than we wouldnt be having this conversation if I was president I would pick each and every illegal immagrant off AMERICAN SOIL and put yous back in your mudd holes...america is for whites and blacks only it was a better place before hispanics came ...ooppss is anyone affended FREEDOM OF SPEECH BITCHES GO TO SCHOOL OR HABLA ENGLAS
becky a real american, 2008-08-29 20:31:04 -- Flag for review
Listen here I am an honord american citizen and I 100000000 percent agree with the top comments....I am 18yrs old full blooded american and im so sick of seeing hispanics fuck yous go back to your fuckin country where you belong.....we would take the shitty jobs we just can't get to them fast enough because every mile we go for that job 15 of your kind got the job n the next 14 ...it is rediculous to me I don't care if yous think im a racist I am more than concerned for my son and his future because yous fuck like jack rabbits and make a whole army of guallies...I can't take it any more everywhere I go that's all I see....if u want to come to america do it legally ...the only reason yous get jobs is because youS ACCEPT LOWER PAY n want to milk our country for our money and free education you damn roaches stop coming here and jumping on welfare ...every hispanic makes me sick yous don't raise your kids with respect or teach them ne thing but how to steal n have sex ...yous ruined america its not hispanica in 30 years we will be infested with roaches every where and yous will be the reason america came to shit if yous had respect and taught your children values and manners and wore CONDOMS OR HAVE YOUR TUBES TIED than we wouldnt be having this conversation if I was president I would pick each and every illegal immagrant off AMERICAN SOIL and put yous back in your mudd holes...america is for whites and blacks only it was a better place before hispanics came ...ooppss is anyone affended FREEDOM OF SPEECH BITCHES GO TO SCHOOL OR HABLA ENGLAS
80324, 2008-11-12 14:27:32 -- Flag for review
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