About 50 religious leaders from several faith groups met with Gov Martin O’Malley, Democrat of Maryland, in the state capital on July 21 for a brainstorming session on how Maryland can help respond to the influx of unaccompanied children coming across the US border, the Washington Post reports.
Religious leaders brainstorm in Annapolis, July 21 (Maryland GovPics via Flickr)
Mr O’Malley has called on President Barack Obama to deal with the refugee children in a “humanitarian” way. The White House, however, perhaps in a signal of dissatisfaction with Maryland’s official criticism, let it be known that Mr O’Malley had asked the administration to back away from its efforts to house some of the children temporarily in a facility in Carroll County.
That was a little misunderstanding, since Mr O’Malley felt the children would not be welcomed in Carroll County. He was right, if graffiti painted on the facility is any indication. Someone spray-painted, “No illeagles here, no undocumented Democrats,” on the building. Looking past the misspelling, we hear a distinct feeling of resolve not to allow the children to take up residence in Carroll County for any length of time.
Enter Catholic Charities, which happens to have space for about 50 children in a facility in Timonium, in Baltimore County just north of Baltimore City. But resistance has even come to Mr O’Malley over this possibility, with religious leaders holding the view that large centers aren’t the best option. Those who spoke with the governor Monday came away with the idea of housing the children in foster homes, under federal control, since the children are technically in the custody of the federal government, the Baltimore Sun reported.
Plus, “the issue is so large that no one organization alone can take care of it,” the Post quoted William J McCarthy, executive director of Catholic Charities of Baltimore and one of many Catholics who attended Monday’s meeting, as saying.
Maryland’s Catholic leaders join those in other cities who oppose current efforts to make it easier to deport the children and are looking for local solutions. Cardinal Francis E George of Chicago, for example, said he had offered facilities to house some of the children. Earlier this week, bishops in Dallas and Fort Worth tried to find lawyers who could volunteer to represent the children, who often find themselves without representation at their immigration proceedings.
Since October, about 57,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended across the southwest border, double the number during a similar period the previous year, the New York Times reports. Although migration may be slumping right now, it’s expected to start increasing again unless the reasons people leave their native countries and make a dangerous trip to the US are addressed.
“We are Americans, and we do not return refugee kids who find themselves on our doorstep back into war-torn or famine-racked places where they will face certain death,” the Post quoted Mr O’Malley as saying. “I think we have to act like Americans.”
Immigration reform is needed, to be sure. President Bush knew it. President Obama knows it. But it doesn’t seem to be happening.
While our immigration courts are clogged up by claims for asylum on behalf of these unaccompanied minors, the situation is not a political one but a humanitarian one. Our current laws require us to give each migrant his or her day in court, and that is, ultimately, the right thing to do unless our laws can be changed. But while they wait for that hearing—at which they might not even show up and that will probably result in their immediate deportation—taking care of them is our responsibility as Americans. Welcome to the New World.
