So realistically, what should be done about all of these kids

[B2G]

coming across the border? Do we just absorb them all into the system? Send them back to their cities of origin? What?

Our system is overtaxed with poverty and need as is. And if we just let them stay, how many more thousands will follow by example of what we do?

I'm looking for serious opinions here. To me, this isn't political. It's a humanitarian crisis in the making.

[In_The_Wind]

1. The only thing we can do is give them shelter.

[Louisiana1976]

56. Yes we can.

[daleanime]

79. True...

if you can't think of them as human beings, think of them as an investment. Helping others will not bankrupt this nation.

[el_bryanto]

2. Could we help those kids if we changed our priorities a bit?

It strikes me that we could - drop some corporate welfare or some military programs and spend the money making a better situation for all of America's impoverished children (not just immigrants) - make that a priority.

I don't know that we will do that though - I don't know if the political will is there.

Bryant

[WinkyDink]

35. You don't know? REALLY?!

Hint: It ain't. Never was. Never will be. See: Security, Dept of Need More Money Homeland.

[el_bryanto]

55. Yes I really don't know. Also I'm an idiot.

I appreciate you taking a moment to point that out.

Bryant

[Louisiana1976]

57. No, you're not an idiot. Our priorities are fucked.

[mucifer]

3. They should stay. We would have plenty of money if we don't start the war again in Iraq.

I don't see why they can't get amnesty the way people from other countries can get amnesty.

The stories are horrific.

[B2G]

5. Honestly, how many thousands can the system handle?

Because it's setting a precedent and there will be more. And they won't all be cute little kids.

[alp227]

7. Setting a precedent? Sounds like a Santorum style of argumentation.

That's the same stuff I hear from those right wingers who oppose the DREAM Act because they say it'll only perpetuate illegal immigration (even though the DREAM Act is very selective & not for future immigrants).

[B2G]

10. There are alot of Democrats concerned as well.

Just because you don't read about it on DU doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

And yes, how we handle this will set a precedent. This is a new situation. The world is watching.

[daleanime]

80. Good, now do we show them.....

the right thing to do or the easy out?

[Fred Sanders]

15. How about passing the Senate passed immigration bill? Blame the GOP, not children, surprisingly to

some for some reason, not very healthy after a nightmare trip.

Their health is easily remedied, the true sickness is thinking sick children are disposable nuisances.

[Louisiana1976]

59. That's right. They should not be treated as undocumented immigrants and deported,

they should be treated as refugees and taken in.

[Fred Sanders]

74. They should be processed according to law and they are. Now the GOP wants to change the law, at

the same time refusing to take up the Senate passed bill that deals with all this.

[HooptieWagon]

29. The poster makes a good point.

How many kids can we take in? Are we going to admit every kid in the world living in poverty and/or violence? All the Syrian and Iraqi kids? African kids? Each and every family would have to take in about 10 kids. So where do we draw the line? There are plenty of kids here who need assistance... do we ignore them while helping refugee kids? Its a heart-breaking situation, there are no easy answers, but I don't see a solution that involves a "let them all come here" policy being practical or feasible.

[alp227]

30. You're definitely right that America should pick & choose its immigrants,

and the obama admin understands too, see http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014841168

[Louisiana1976]

60. Legal immigration should be made easier, not harder.

[TBF]

43. I'd rather save people - kids, old people, young people etc

than kill them w/drones.

We have plenty of room to raise taxes on corporations afaic.

Closed borders for bananas, open borders for people.

Think about it.

[Scootaloo]

77. As if treating people right is based on how "cute" they are?

[otohara]

83. Cute Little Kids

work in Kentucky picking tobacco 12 hours a day for little money.

The cute kids working in KY are all brown.
Problem solved.

The "system" also includes millions of immigrants picking, packing, washing, chopping, repacking, preparing most of the food we eat in this country. My immigrant friend works for a big American food chain known for it's delicious prepared foods - guess who's cooking the food? Guess who stays at these jobs and works the hardest for the least amount of money and no chance of advancement?

[conservaphobe]

4. There's no easy answer. I certainly don't have one.

But whatever is decided should be carried out as compassionately as possible.

[Warpy]

6. First, find the relatives they were sent here to meet

Then come up with the resources to house, feed and educate the rest.

It's what a compassionate country does with refugee children fleeing political horror shows in their home countries.

However, the Republicans will want them deported. Once a child is born, it ceases to be worthy of any consideration to those people.

[Skidmore]

18. This.

This a thousand times over.

[LWolf]

23. YES. nt

[politicat]

76. Exactly. N/t

[GeorgeGist]

8. Most people don't realize how rich the US is.

Per capita GDP for 2013 was $45863.02.

In a normal distribution that would be $183,452 for an AVERAGE family of 4.

Well above the $130000 reported by USAToday for a family of 4 to achieve the American Dream.

[Warpy]

21. Exactly, the country is rich but the distribution has always been piss poor

although for a few decades in the middle of the last century, working people got enough of a fair deal to be able to live decently and have enough left over to be compassionate toward people like refugee children.

[TBF]

46. Exactly -

with billionaires holding most of the "rich" ness.

Redistribution is key.

[LittleBlue]

9. We can't even take care of the people who are already here

Businesses are driving this because new immigrants keep wages down.

[Starry Messenger]

11. How much $ did US interests make by propping up the Guatemalan dictator, Ríos Montt?

Maybe in addition to apologizing, we could take a look at the fruits of our meddling in LatAm governments and see what we can spare from our military adventures to help the generations we fucked.

[B2G]

12. That doesn't answer the original question. nt

[Starry Messenger]

17. Yes it does.

Find where that money went and use it.

And in addition? The only reason we have such pressing needs here is because the surplus in our country is going straight to Wall Street. Blaming little kids is stupid and shortsighted. To point the finger there is irresponsible and only fosters divisions that don't exist.

The resources exist. The priorities are fucked.

[TBF]

47. You have to spell it out -

their brains don't work the same way ours do.

[Starry Messenger]

53. I get so tired of people acting like history happened in a vacuum.

It was only three years ago that that left-wing rag, the NYtimes, explained what we'd done in just Guatemala. I haven't even brought up Honduras yet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/opinion/04schlesinger.html?_r=0

IN 1954, the American government committed one of the most reprehensible acts in its history when it authorized the C.I.A. to overthrow the democratically elected leader of Guatemala, President Jacobo Arbenz. It did so secretly but later rationalized the coup on the ground that the country was about to fall into communist hands.

Guatemalan society has only recently recovered from the suffering that this intervention caused, including brutal military dictatorships and a genocidal civil war against its Indian population, which led to the deaths of an estimated 200,000 people. Only in the 1980s, when a peace process commenced, did democratic governance resume. But a silence about the Arbenz era continued.

<snip>

The covert American assault destroyed any possibility that Guatemala’s fragile political and civic institutions might grow. It permanently stunted political life. And the destruction of Guatemala’s democracy also set back the cause of free elections in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras — all of which drew the lesson that Washington was more interested in unquestioning allies than democratic ones. It was only after the cold war and a United Nations-negotiated peace deal with leftist guerrillas in 1996 that genuine democracy began to take hold in Guatemala. And even since then, the cycle of violence and lawlessness unleashed by the 1954 coup has continued.

In 1998, an assassin bludgeoned to death the Catholic bishop Juan Gerardi shortly after he issued a damning report blaming the army for widespread massacres. In 2007, Guatemala had the world’s third-highest homicide rate, according to a United Nations-World Bank study. In 2009, more civilians were murdered in Guatemala than were killed in the war zones of Iraq.

<snip>

I wonder how many people on this thread whining about taking care of 58,000 chiidren eat Chiquita bananas without wondering how they got here?

[kiva]

62. Go to 26:38 minutes

on this documentary:

The whole series is excellent, but this segment is about the coup in Guatemala, complete with an interview with the Marine/CIA operative who engineered it...must see viewing.

[Starry Messenger]

72. Thanks kiva, marking to watch later.

[lunasun]

81. +1 !! exactly

[Louisiana1976]

14. Yes. the US has a responsibility to these kids because it has intervened politically

and economically in those countries for decades. This intervention and the support of corrupt regimes with lax law enforcement allowing gangs and drug cartels to flourish has produced the conditions the kids are now fleeing. The US should take them in as refugees.

[SoCalDem]

13. We find financial sponsors for them while they are here, and we also

tell the leaders of their country that their aid will be reduced by the amount it costs to process/care for them.

Years ago immigration was a sponsored thing, where family members/churches already here would guarantee the costs of people coming here.

The US got on a guilt trip when it came to Cuba. & Viet Nam war refugees, and we relaxed a lot of regulations which only aggravated the would-be Mexican immigrants who have always felt that this was originally their land (lots of it really was), and they could get here rather easily for a very long time.

What is really needed is accurate documentation for cross-the-border seasonal workers who can come and go legally, and SPONSORED immigration to reunite split families..

[cheapdate]

16. What can you do?

Receive them and attend to their immediate needs. Put them in a safe place. Find out where their parents are and try to make contact with them. Find out if they have family in the Unites States. Try to find that family. It's a huge task. Each child must be attended to individually. If there are no responsible parents and no responsible family members that can be located, what can you do? Put them into foster systems. I have no idea what the established State Department procedures are.

[TwilightGardener]

19. I have no idea, beyond attending to their immediate needs.

Deport them, and who knows what will happen to them. Let them stay, and this dangerous and costly gambit won't stop.

[Skidmore]

20. Start by being a humanitarian and respond accordingly.

The crisis is well beyond being in the making and has been for sometime. What do other nations do when refugees pour over borders seeking safety from strife in their own lands? They take them in without handwringing. Letting them stay hurts us how? Over the generations the US has absorbed many thousands of people seeking refuge here. This is the current time's allotment. We rise to the occasion and turn aside from the angst that maybe we might need to give up a little comfort to provide safety and security for children who are fleeing violence and need. And we demand that our fellow citizens live up to their vaunted "Christian values." Period.

[WinkyDink]

36. They build camps, godforsaken camps.

[madokie]

22. I think we should give them shelter

an education, whatever they need. In the meantime we as a country need to reevaluate what the hell we're doing that is helping to make life so difficult for them at home and try to correct that.
For one our drug policies are making life unbearable for a lot of south American citizens there at home. We should stop that. I'm sure there is a whole list of things we could be doing differently that would make a difference in their lives. Get off our fucking high horse for another too. Start treating people throughout the world like equals would go a long ways towards fixing things.
Theres a lot we could do, making life a little bit harder on those who are already having a hard time is not it though

[WinkyDink]

37. It isn't that simple. Do we all of a sudden find teachers to hire, more classrooms somewhere?

These kids are here NOW, not in some distant future where we face our true interventionist history like never before.

[jeff47]

39. Yes, it is that simple

Do we all of a sudden find teachers to hire, more classrooms somewhere?

Yep. Really not hard to do.

Heck, we've got several cities and states that are massively bleeding population. Send the kids there.

[madokie]

44. We can make do, right now

We can absorb a lot of kids in our system without much of an effect on the overall scheme of things. As my dad would say when he approached a person walking along the road, theres always room for one more in this old ford model A

[Warren Stupidity]

24. 50-75,000 children.

US population: 314,000,000.

0.002% of the population.

I think we can manage this crisis. The UN high commission on refugees estimates that 58% of these children qualify as refugees.

It is called compassion.

[Louisiana1976]

63. +1 million

[Raine1967]

70. Thank you:

It is called compassion.

more of this.

[blueamy66]

25. Sterilize women

Why procreate?

[Quantess]

42. That sounds very knee-jerk and extreme.

Are you serious or are you being overly-ironic?

[blueamy66]

82. Was a joke

Sorry

[CBGLuthier]

26. Our system in not overtaxed. Our millionaires are UNDER taxed

America could easily absorb these kids if it had the will to.

[TBF]

48. ^ this. nt

[MindPilot]

27. First off quit calling them "illegal immigrants".

They are children, minors, kids and should properly be designated "refugees".

In addition the visceral disgust I feel at the actions of some of my fellow Californians; I am sick and fucking tired, of hearing excuses. "We can't take care of the people here now", "we can't afford it"; "our facilities are overwhelmed" BULLSHIT!

All we have to do is stop looking at this as a law enforcement problem, and deal with it as the humanitarian crisis that it is. The only law enforcement problem here is that the law allowing government officials to do their jobs without inference is not being enforced.

The next time some right wing piece of shit wants to show their patriotism by standing in front of a bus, perhaps they should get a little Occupy treatment.

[Louisiana1976]

64. Exactly.

[EC]

28. They should be fostered

until family is found for them to live with here. They are refugees, just like most of our ancestors, fleeing their home country for life. I also want to know where all these religious groups are that adopt foreign children? The Mormons really bragged about all the Somalians they saved by bringing them over and adopting them. So where are all the "Christians"?

[dilby]

31. Where are the kids getting the money for these crossings?

I just don't understand where these guys are getting the money to make a trip from Central America up through Mexico and then into the US. And we are talking kids between 2 and 16, it just does not make sense. Someone once mentioned it was the Cartels who were flooding the border with children since it used up a lot of border patrol resources and made smuggling drugs way easier. If that is the case then we need to crack down on the cartels.

[hardcover]

54. ^^^ this

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

32. Well, America has found ways to absorb Puritans, Slaves, the Irish, Italians, Jews, etc...

Why not some poor, scared, kids?

[WinkyDink]

38. Yeah, good examples. Not.

[TBF]

50. Wow. nt

[madokie]

51. As soon as they figure out a way to exploit these kids

the arms will open up and accept this influx of slaves or whatever would be the right term here.

[elfin]

33. They need to be evaluated for public health concerns

Are they vaccinated? Do they need treatment for parasites, tropical diseases etc?

Releasing them to family that is undocumented means they will probably never return for a hearing or get proper medical treatment for conditions that could pose problems for the general population.

This is a terrible situation. My heart aches for them, my head worries about possible consequences.

[WinkyDink]

34. IKR? Do we build orphanages? Do we fast-track foster care/adoptions? School systems are for sure

hurting.

[TBF]

52. You've been very helpful in this thread.

And very transparent.

How would you prefer we use tax $$$?

My preference would be to help out folks who need shelter as opposed to continuing to use tax $$$ to build up our military and kill people globally.

[jeff47]

40. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Immigration quotas are dumb policy forced upon us by isolationist morons.

[Louisiana1976]

65. True. As I said, legal immigration should be made easier, not harder.

[Lurker Deluxe]

68. Right

They should allow many more H1B visas

Let more people in, they are just trying to better themselves.

[jeff47]

71. So what should be done about these kids?

Answer: Let them all in. And let their families immigrate too.

[treestar]

41. Follow the law that we have

Apparently they are here because Bush signed a law saying kids had to get hearings. Rick Warren was interviewed and asked about it and of course refused to answer.

[ancianita]

45. I recommend that a list of children be sent to Latino networks in LA, NYC and other areas.

Last edited Mon Jul 7, 2014, 06:07 PM - Edit history (1)

I recommend that those qualified to adopt consider these children. Often people are given stipends in the form of tax credits or other remunerations for adoption.

These immigrant children could be helped through US adoption systems which already make the US the #1 adoption country in the world.

There's a huge amount of organizational, as well as individual help available in this country.

http://directory.adoption.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoption_in_the_United_States

http://www.rainbowkids.com/HTMLFiles.aspx?page=Resources

[Dreamer Tatum]

49. DU: ask a single positive question, get a million normative answers. nt

[AverageJoe90]

58. Umm.....I'm not sure what you mean by "normative". Could you explain, please? nt

[Warren Stupidity]

73. It was empty snark. A "what should be done" question is asking for "normative" responses.

I

[ismnotwasm]

61. Reach out to Latino activist organizations like La Raza.

Jointly brainstorm on the quickest and safest placement for these children. General amnesty.

http://www.nclr.org

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mexican-American_political_organizations

( I know the wiki page sucks--I'm still looking)

http://borderangels.org

Reach out to Anglos who want to help, but whatever we do, don't dismiss human children as "illegal" and therefore somehow undesirable. They are kids, and if I don't miss my guess, some of them have taken some serious damage.

[BlueCheese]

66. It's a terrible situation, without any good solutions.

[Rainngirl]

67. Maybe

all of the bloviating pro-lifers could offer to foster them? They claim to be such champions of children--although it's really only fetuses they care about--maybe they could put their money where their mouths are.

[bemildred]

69. Give them food, shelter, clothing, medical care, and an education. nt

[Marrah_G]

75. Find out if they have any family here that can take them in

If they don't I'm not sure what a viable plan would be. Maybe some sort of sponsorship/adoption program? Reach out to immigrants from their home country and hope some are willing to take them in?

I think most will end up being sent back though, poor kids.

[flamingdem]

78. If people step up to take them in

let them stay. It could happen. They could all be taken in and something positive could start happening with our Southern neighbors. We could actually help them more and disregard false borders between humans.

[alarimer]

84. We've ruined their countries with NAFTA and the drug war.

I think we are ultimately responsible for them.

[Orsino]

85. Wrong. Our system is fucking UNDERtaxed, and the issue almost entirely political...

...in that we are perfectly capable of treating everyone humanely. We simply choose not to.