Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has issued an open letter to Central American parents, warning them of the dangers of illegally sending their children alone across the U.S. border.
Published in Spanish-language media over the weekend, Johnson’s letter says such children would not qualify for relief from deportation under the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. They also would not qualify for a pathway to citizenship under bipartisan immigration legislation the Senate passed last year, he said.
“In the hands of smugglers, many children are traumatized and psychologically abused by their journey, or worse, beaten, starved, sexually assaulted or sold into the sex trade,” Johnson said. “Conditions for an attempt to cross our southern border illegally will become much worse as it gets hotter in July and August.”
The Obama administration is grappling with a surge of immigrant children illegally entering the U.S. without their parents. Many are fleeing poverty and violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. And some are ending up in Georgia after their harrowing journeys.
As of June 15 of this fiscal year, the government apprehended about 52,000 children illegally crossing the southwest border without their parents. And as of May of fiscal year 2014, about 39,000 parents traveling with children have been apprehended in the same region.
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