7/26/2014
Humanity Insensitive towards Children’s Immigration Crisis, Maria Salinas Says
By Teresa Bouza
WASHINGTON – Award-winning Univision channel journalist Maria Elena Salinas told Efe that Central American leaders visiting the White House on Friday should be ashamed their countries do not look after their children.
“I wish they had a little shame,” said Salinas, who just returned from an eight-day tour across Central America and the southern frontier of the U.S. to report on the crisis caused by the constant flow of unaccompanied immigrant children in the U.S.
The U.S. government’s response to this crisis “lacks humanity... They are looking at ways to get rid of these children,” she added.
Accompanied by her crew, the journalist travelled over 9,000 kilometers (5,625 miles) and interviewed many high profile people including the president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez.
Salinas said Central American governments’ lack of response to widespread poverty adds up to the indifference of local elites who keep “marginalizing” those who have nothing, “instead of looking for solutions.”
“Entre el Abandono y el Rechazo” or Between Abandonment and Rejection, which was aired last weekend, documented her experiences on her trip to the border and analyzed the complex reality behind children’s immigration crisis.
“We decided on this title because we realized the children were abandoned not just by their families, whether or not out of necessity, but also by the government and the society. They reach the U.S. and are rejected by laws that don’t allow them to stay as refugees and by a society that is hostile,” she explained.
Salinas said “the famous rumor” – children crossing the border can stay in the U.S. – is not what is driving the massive exodus of kids towards the north.
“It is a combination of many more things according to the people we interviewed, including Unicef. Violence has increased, drug trafficking has increased, poverty has increased in these places,” she added.
She pointed out that violence in Honduras, where the biggest risk to life is to be young, was what affected her most during her tour.
“This really left me shattered because, well, but then... What is going to happen to a country where the young are dying and are killing one another?” she asked.
Unicef’s representative in Central America, Gordon Jonathan Lewis, revealed in a program on Univision that 6,300 youths were murdered between 2005 and 2013 in El Salvador.
In Honduras, 83 percent of all recent child deaths were caused by firearms, and young people accounted for more than half the victims of violent crimes.
Salinas described the situation as “a very sad reality,” adding that “apparently no one is bothered” that so many children are alone, abandoned and living in misery without any opportunity for education.
On this side of the border too, there is still a lot left to be done, according to Salinas, one of the most well-known faces from Hispanic television in the United States.
“Unfortunately, here things are seen differently. They see it in political terms, thus they (the children) are not seen as human beings who are suffering,” she said.
In her opinion, the crisis “highlights the need for immigration reforms,” in order to reunite families as well as to bring order in a chaotic system.
“There needs to be some sort of order along the borders, who comes, who doesn’t come, giving entry to those who can enter,” the journalist went on.
Salinas said “these children would not be trying to enter illegally if their parents were given legal permits and were allowed to bring them along.”
This situation, far from giving a push to immigration reforms which now stand blocked in the U.S. Congress, will make their approval even more difficult as Republicans will get extra ammunition and claim the border is not as secure as U.S. President Barack Obama declared it to be.
Against this backdrop, Obama is set to host the presidents of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, Guatemala, Otto Perez Molina, and El Salvador, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, at the White House on Friday.
Humanity Insensitive towards Children’s Immigration Crisis, Maria Salinas Says
By Teresa Bouza
WASHINGTON – Award-winning Univision channel journalist Maria Elena Salinas told Efe that Central American leaders visiting the White House on Friday should be ashamed their countries do not look after their children.“I wish they had a little shame,” said Salinas, who just returned from an eight-day tour across Central America and the southern frontier of the U.S. to report on the crisis caused by the constant flow of unaccompanied immigrant children in the U.S.
The U.S. government’s response to this crisis “lacks humanity... They are looking at ways to get rid of these children,” she added.
Accompanied by her crew, the journalist travelled over 9,000 kilometers (5,625 miles) and interviewed many high profile people including the president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez.
Salinas said Central American governments’ lack of response to widespread poverty adds up to the indifference of local elites who keep “marginalizing” those who have nothing, “instead of looking for solutions.”
“Entre el Abandono y el Rechazo” or Between Abandonment and Rejection, which was aired last weekend, documented her experiences on her trip to the border and analyzed the complex reality behind children’s immigration crisis.
“We decided on this title because we realized the children were abandoned not just by their families, whether or not out of necessity, but also by the government and the society. They reach the U.S. and are rejected by laws that don’t allow them to stay as refugees and by a society that is hostile,” she explained.
Salinas said “the famous rumor” – children crossing the border can stay in the U.S. – is not what is driving the massive exodus of kids towards the north.
“It is a combination of many more things according to the people we interviewed, including Unicef. Violence has increased, drug trafficking has increased, poverty has increased in these places,” she added.
She pointed out that violence in Honduras, where the biggest risk to life is to be young, was what affected her most during her tour.
“This really left me shattered because, well, but then... What is going to happen to a country where the young are dying and are killing one another?” she asked.
Unicef’s representative in Central America, Gordon Jonathan Lewis, revealed in a program on Univision that 6,300 youths were murdered between 2005 and 2013 in El Salvador.
In Honduras, 83 percent of all recent child deaths were caused by firearms, and young people accounted for more than half the victims of violent crimes.
Salinas described the situation as “a very sad reality,” adding that “apparently no one is bothered” that so many children are alone, abandoned and living in misery without any opportunity for education.
On this side of the border too, there is still a lot left to be done, according to Salinas, one of the most well-known faces from Hispanic television in the United States.
“Unfortunately, here things are seen differently. They see it in political terms, thus they (the children) are not seen as human beings who are suffering,” she said.
In her opinion, the crisis “highlights the need for immigration reforms,” in order to reunite families as well as to bring order in a chaotic system.
“There needs to be some sort of order along the borders, who comes, who doesn’t come, giving entry to those who can enter,” the journalist went on.
Salinas said “these children would not be trying to enter illegally if their parents were given legal permits and were allowed to bring them along.”
This situation, far from giving a push to immigration reforms which now stand blocked in the U.S. Congress, will make their approval even more difficult as Republicans will get extra ammunition and claim the border is not as secure as U.S. President Barack Obama declared it to be.
Against this backdrop, Obama is set to host the presidents of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, Guatemala, Otto Perez Molina, and El Salvador, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, at the White House on Friday.
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