Unaccompanied Migrant Children in States Shelters

Unaccompanied Migrant Children in States Shelters

The number of minors moving to the United States without being accompanied by adults has increased rapidly since 2014. The US government officials provide the children with temporary shelters to stay while they wait to be placed in State’s licensed housing facilities. The licensed facilities are funded by the Health and Human Services Department of the United States government. The main issue about the housing of these minors over the years has been the conditions they are placed in while in these government-sponsored facilities. Some public and administration figures are in the quest to propose an increase in several shelters for the minors arriving at the US-Mexico border without adults and facilitation of the rate of appointing sponsors for these kids. Other administrators oppose the proposal of increasing the shelter network and advocate for abolishment of the sheltering process.

Trump’s administration officials have implemented immigrant policies that slow down the licensing of these minors housing facilities. Trump’s government’s policies also regulate the number of kids to be accommodated. For instance, a Mayor named Bowser opposes the proposition of expanding the shelter network for these kids coming to the US unaccompanied by adults. According to Mayor Bowser and other officials, the sheltering needs to be stopped. To them, the unaccompanied minors should be assigned refugee status and allocated to people who care about them rather than detaining the minors in the shelters. According to the people advocating for the abolishment of the sheltering process, the detention of kids in these facilities impacts the development of the minors negatively (Aldarondo et al 201). The official on the side of the opposition has pointed out that in these facilities, children undergo severe suffering from diseases, long term impacts of toxic stress, depression, and other traumas that are unhealthy to their mental, physical, and emotional development. Therefore, according to these officials, they intend to stop the harm caused by the shelters to these kids by making sure instead of detaining them, they offer free life where they are capable of actively participating in the society and gaining necessary social life skills. The shelters lack the appropriate standards to give the migrant kids a healthy lifestyle. The educational, legal, and health services provided in these shelters are below the average standards of a human being.

The officials who worked in the Obama government feel that abolishing the shelters would be unfair to the minor migrants coming to the US. The administrators who worked under Obama’s governance believe that federal and State laws can be used to make the shelters better for migrant children. For example, the licensing process can be utilized to ensure that the shelters meet the health, educational, and legally required standards. The government can enact policies that monitor the facilities’ services and eradicate the immorality and suffering happening in the migrant sheltering facilities. According to the advocates of shelter expansion, since the number of unaccompanied migrant minors is likely to keep increasing, the best solution is to make the shelters safe to accommodate these children rather than supporting the idea of withdrawing the hosting support the States gives to these young kids. Most of these kids flee to the US to rescue their lives, and it would be unfortunate if they lacked a place they can sleep, eat, and educated upon arriving at the perceived savior country (Seugling 861). Therefore this proposal aims to examine the best way to shelter the unaccompanied migrant children and provide them with the necessary services which promote their developmental growth.

Works Cited

Aldarondo, Etiony, and Rachel Becker.”Promoting the well-being of unaccompanied immigrant   minors.” Creating infrastructures for Latino mental health.Springer, New York, NY,   2011.195-214.

Seugling, Carolyn J. “Toward a comprehensive response to the transnational migration of unaccompanied minors in the United States.” Vand. J. Transnat’l L. 37 (2004): 861.

UNICEF, S. “Children on the Move.” Workshop Report. 2016.

Wood, Laura CN. “Impact of punitive immigration policies, parent-child separation, and child      detention on the mental health and development of children.” BMJ    paediatrics open 2.1    (2018).