School officials: No immigrant influx
Although “hundreds” of immigrant Central American teens and pre-teens have spent time at Youth for Tomorrow in western Prince William the past two years, there’s little sign that significant numbers have enrolled in local schools.
In response to questions from the Prince William County Board of Supervisors earlier this month, YFT Chief Executive Officer Gary Jones told county officials the Bristow-based Christian group home for troubled teens is now housing about 80 young immigrants. He also said the non-profit founded by former Washington Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs has hosted “hundreds” as part of the two-year contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement.
According to Prince William County spokesman Jason Grant, Jones also said most only stay at the facility for an average of 35 days before being released to family members or foster families.
But whether the teens are staying in Prince William while they await court hearings under the 2008 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act remains an open question.
County schools spokesman Phil Kavits said the school division has seen no corresponding spike in enrollment among Spanish-speaking children, and has heard no anecdotal reports about large numbers of foster children entering local schools.
In an email, Kavits also said the school division is not expecting a corresponding increase in enrollment this fall.
What is it going to take for the local bloggers and the politicians to stop with the conspiracy theories? Most of the bad information has come from local politicians and the blogs. No, the children housed at Youth for Tomorrow are not going to go to school with PWC kids. (so what if they did?!!!) No they aren’t spreading communicable diseases. No they aren’t doing anything to anyone in Prince William County. In fact, they are so harmless the good people of PWC didn’t even know they were out there. Ha!
Yet some folks want to wave the bloody shirt, unfurl the American flag and shout “Go Home” to children and teens. Those who are filled with hate simply need to remember that these children are at great risk and lived in great peril to get here. Their conditions were dire. These children need to be given refugee status immediately. They seek asylum.
Some day people will look back, as they have looked back on the Jews they could have saved before and during WWII, and ask if they couldn’t have done more. Now is the time to do what we can for someone less fortunate. Being pro-life, to me, also includes the time AFTER birth.
Pro-life isn’t just for fertilized eggs, zygotes, embryos and fetuses. It’s odd to look at who all is raising the most hell about refugee kids. Yup, many who would have us erroneously believe they are PRO-LIFE.
Silly Moon!
How can one capitalize on immigration hysteria without demonizing these kids?
But I thought that abortion was recommended for people that can’t take care of kids to prevent those poor kids from being a a burden on society. That is what has been recommended on this site.
So, why don’t we want them reunited with their families back home?
Who ever told you that about pro choice people or this blog was full of crap. Who do you know of that recommends abortion for those reasons you stated?
We never have 1. recommended abortion 2. said that poor kids are a burden on society.
You owe Elena and me both a huge apology. You can throw in Censored also since she is usually a part of our pro choice discussions.
Some of Our local pols and bloggers need to calm down before they wet their pants! There is no migrant crisis in PWC. In fact, this whole thing has been overblown by special interest groups for political reasons.
Totally agree, Starry.
I’m with Elena – how the hell can you turn citizens into an unthinking mob and make them lose all reason? Easy. Just get hysterical yourself. And, without the mob mentality, how could these dunderheads get votes? Be real, Moon.
At Cargo – I think everyone wants these kids reunited with their families back home IF: 1) we know who and where their families are, and 2) if we have some confidence that we aren’t returning them to a high probability of violent death, starvation, or some other form of victimization. The processes required by law are intended to sort those things out.
Cargo seems to assume that mama and daddy live at home. I think if that were the case, the kids wouldn’t be at our borders.
There may very well not be a crisis, but the federal government needs to transparently demonstrate that the complex issues are being well handled and in accordance with the law.
To which cities and states have the children been distributed? Why aren’t local officials being informed? How are their safety and well being assured? How and where will they be educated while awaiting court dates? How are those with communicable diseases being identified and treated? How are gang members identified and separated from vulnerable children? Who makes sure they appear for their court dates? What costs and services do local communities have to bear?
The federal government lacks the moral authority (e.g. “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan”) for citizens to accept vague assurances that these issues are being adequately handled. Rather than essentially saying “trust us”, the Feds need to provide some detail about the steps taken to manage and protect the interests of these children and the communities to which they were sent. An information blackout tends to make people who are already suspicious of this government think that there is something to hide.
If you are suspicious of this government, what must you have thought about the last one. Geez!!!
That just isn’t something I would be paranoid about. I am more concerned over torture going on in the name of the United States and the marginally poor not having insurance.
Photos from crime-stricken Honduras, murder capital of the world.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/08/01/harrowing-images-of-police-battling-gang-violence-in-crime-stricken-honduras/?hpid=z11
Stories and pictures from crime-stricken Chicago with a high murder rate also. Apparently the murder rate is even worse in New Orleans and Detroit. A lot of this has been attributed to gangs and the drug trade. Should kids affected by violence in the US be labelled as “refugees” and given sanctuary elsewhere?
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/26/justice/chicago-deadly-violence/index.html
I doubt that the murder rate is 1 out of 14 in any city in the USA.
However, I wouldn’t be opposed to children being taken out of high crime neighborhoods with their parents’ permission.
I am constantly and reliably amazed at the inconsistency of my friends on the far-right. They’re all about states rights and local control except when they’re not- as when your locality is Washington, D.C., and then Congress will decide your fate. Or when you live in the way of the Keystone Pipeline and Congress should trump local opposition and force the pipeline with eminent domain. And now my far-righties want the federal government to wade in and interfere with the immigrant system that has been working for years with no issues. Don’t we always hear about “faith based organizations” taking more responsibilities from the government? Isn’t that exactly what’s happening with Youth For Tomorrow and the other organizations helping these children?
Xenophobia has always existed in this country, but we HAVE to stop letting the tail wag the dog. The far-right extremists are a small percentage of the population and don’t represent the views of the vast majority of the American people, even Republicans: http://unitedmethodistreporter.com/2014/07/30/survey-most-americans-say-u-s-should-shelter-not-rush-to-deport-child-migrants/
These far-right voices may be loud, but they don’t reflect the spirit or the heart of America.
I have been amazed at how fast the far right folks have turned on Youth for Tomorrow, a faith based organization. Now if some heathen (or so some believe) like me had said something ugly about them. the far right would have crawled all over me.
MM: I understand the irony that you identify re the attitude toward faith-based organizations in the context of immigration. Nonetheless, it bears emphasizing that immigration and naturalization issues are constitutionally within the sole and plenary purview of the federal government. All responsibility for failure of policies rests at the federal level. All successes go to the federal government’s credit. The problem we have right now is that, no matter what one’s views of the current state of immigration policy, it is glaringly apparent that the federal system is inadequate to modern conditions and needs overhaul. There is no doubt a lot of disagreement on what that overhaul should entail. But the federal government simply is doing nothing. The primary reason for this, in my opinion, is that Congress, and most specifically Republican members of Congress have treated immigration like crack cocaine. They love the instant high they get from fanning mob instincts on the issue, but they know how powerful the drug is and how harmful it can be over time. They’re simply stuck in a position where they cannot act in the best interests of the Nation.
And there we have it, folks. The bottom line.
The image that came to mind after posting my last comment is that of riding the tiger. The irrational hysteria that pols have ginned up created a tiger from which they cannot dismount lest they be eaten by the beast.
People get hysterical as a means to an end. One blogger was just looking for fodder against Corey so that’s a given. He didn’t give a hoot about the issue really. This has been going on for quite some time. The fact that the Federal government is actually trying to handle the influx in an orderly manner seems to have escaped most. For some, nothing Obama’s administration can do is right in any manner. Nothing. These people watch too much Fox news.
It’s interesting, the same arguments are just being recycled 7 years later. It’s like ground hog day, only these anti immigrant arguments were the same ones used to propagate fear in the early 20th century which allowed for the KKK to push their legislation through Congress with little opposition. One can look to the Johnson-Reed Act and blame the many deaths of European Jewry on that legislation.
Get real over here. The security of our southern border is a horrible mess. That mess is making the US look like a bumbling Third World country. And the guy in charge of that border is named Obama.
Scout- I agree that immigration policy needs overhaul and congress (specifically the tea-party controlled House) is intentionally doing nothing. That’s why I say that the vast majority of Americans (who aren’t extremists) need to take control of their government.
One place to start is the ridiculous House districting that enables tea-party control. We can’t let a small extremist minority continue to undermine the progress of our country.
Standing ovation for middleman.
…and congress makes the laws that decide our immigration policy. What do you want, some kind of “imperial” president?
@Moon-howler
As far as I can tell, the high murder rates in Honduras are confined primarily to its largest cities. No one has provided statistics for Honduras outside the large cities, but Tegucigalpa has a murder rate of 100 per 100,000 and San Pedro Sule has a rate of 175 per 100,000. I commend parents in Honduras for taking action to remove their kids from the violence, but sending them on a treacherous journey to the US is not the answer. Families could avoid the danger for their kids by re-locating within Honduras to less violent regions. If the kids are deported from the US, nothing says that they have to be sent right back to high-crime areas.
There is no doubt that violence is contributing to the migration. But there are solutions that could remove the kids from a dangerous environment without requiring the US to accept >50K illegal aliens. The result of accepting them will be that many, many more will cross the border into the US in the coming years.
That just sounds all too neat and packaged for me. Funny,, your statistics seem to fit the tourism scheme rather than the actual crime stats. You are also assuming that there is a two parent family. The people who have been in the region tell a different story.
Now, does that mean we have to take all the kids? No. Can we process immigration papers differently? Yes. Then they wouldn’t be illegal immigrants. Then what would everyone have to complain about?
Nonsense, middleman. POTUS commands the security elements which control our borders in the same way he commands the armed forces. We already have immigration laws which have been enforced selectively or not at all.
We already have an “imperial” president — one with a pen and a phone and a terrible inability to create productive working relationships either with opposition legislators or foreign leaders. The problem is that the Emperor is now down to his undies and his socks. Soon he will have no clothes at all. Ask Chris Matthews about this fellow, if you don’t believe me. And see the July Barney Frank interview in the Huff Post where Barney says shame on the Oval Office for failing to monitor preparation for the ACA rollout and then for telling lies to the People about what was in the bill.
Dems, you have a problem.
Interesting you quote people that I bet you have very little respect for.
Not sure why the Dems have a problem. They haven’t lost the past 2 presidential elections. Obama isn’t running again. The Republicans have retreads to run.
I thought that would get you, Wolve. It’s hard to reconcile the GOP these days- they just don’t seem to know what they want. Except that they want the opposite of whatever the President wants.
Wolve, you’re confusing national security with public policy when you posit that the President could act unilaterally in the present situation. Independent of the various Republican talking heads that want to make children fleeing repression and death a national security issue, no serious policy person would make that leap.
I had to laugh when you mentioned Obama’s inability to “create” productive working relationships with the opposition. Which opposition would he pick to work with? The Senate, who have passed numerous bi-partisan bills that the House won’t even vote on? Or the House, who doesn’t actually have any leadership that can control legislation, reference the immigration bill debacle last week?
Maybe he should “create” a relationship with Michelle Bachman and Ted Cruze, who control the House now.
@middleman
The Senate, who have passed numerous bi-partisan bills that the House won’t even vote on?
You have that reversed. Harry Reid has tabled everything from the House because he knows that there are Democrats that would vote for House bills.
Cough-sputter-choke
Border Patrol Agent Javier Vegas Jr. of Kingsville, TX, while fishing with his father, was shot by two illegal immigrant robbers from Mexco. Vegas was shot point blank and killed. The father was wounded. Three American youngsters just lost ther father.
The police have now nabbed the killers. One of them, Gustavo Tijerna-Sandoval, had been arrested previously for crossing the border illegally four separate times.
If any of you think we have had good border security or immigration control under either Obama or the Bush II-Karl Rove crowd, you can count yourselves among the suckers of this world.
I am not sure how you really secure a border as long as ours and without becoming the reverse of East Germany.
We didn’t have perfect border control under Clinton, Bush, or Reagan either.
How many miles of border do we have around the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska? How many border control agents do we have?
I’m guessing you’re referring to the 65 bills the House has passed to repeal or gut Obamacare? Yeah, that House majority is really serious about governing…