Roberto Gonzales on Detained Migrant Children

The some 57,000 Central American migrant children who have been detained at the United States-Mexico border have captured the nation’s attention this summer. Much of the recent focus has been on shelter or deportation. We spoke to Assistant Professor Roberto Gonzales — an expert in undocumented immigrant children and young adults — who shared his thoughts on the crisis, the conversations America should be having, and the significant role education can play in the lives of these children. For more than a decade, Gonzales’ research has explored what happens to immigrant children transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. His research has helped scholars, policymakers, and educators better understand how legal and educational institutions shape young immigrants’ educational trajectories, as well as their coming of age experiences.

What is your response to the national focus on the current border crisis

Much of the current national debate regarding the recent inflow of unaccompanied minors from Central America has focused on questions of shelter and removal. Lost in these discussions has been a conversation about how to best integrate these young people into our communities.

While many national media outlets have perpetuated an image of a national crisis and a Central American invasion, there is also a growing current across the country seeking to humanize these young people and to cast the issue as a humanitarian concern. In a recent poll, 69 percent of Americans surveyed said children should be treated as refugees and should be allowed to stay. These polling numbers have been borne out in recent efforts to help these young people.

"In a recent poll, 69 percent of Americans surveyed said children should be treated as refugees and should be allowed to stay."

Local communities have been doing great work in assisting them and a growing number of religious leaders are using their influence to marshal support, making the case that we should welcome them rather than turn them away.

The current situation is not unprecedented. Unaccompanied children have been making the voyage to the United States for generations to reunite with family members or because they had lost their parents to war or famine. In many instances, the United States used its resources and compassion to integrate them into our communities. When children began arriving at Ellis Island at the turn of the 20th century, immigrant aid societies, churches, synagogues, and private citizens provided care and guardianship. In the early 1960s, more than 14,000 Cuban children were brought to Miami and eventually placed in the care of relatives, friends, and concerned families willing to foster or adopt them. Among the Southeast Asian refugees settled across the United States were tens of thousands of unaccompanied children who lost their parents to war or the treacherous journey to the United States. These children were ultimately absorbed into the fabric of this country and made important contributions to their communities.

With a serious commitment to integrate this current group of children, there is good reason to expect that these efforts will similarly yield positive results.  But presently, the debate is over what to do with these young people. The U.S. Justice Department is pushing for immigration courts to prioritize cases involving unaccompanied minors, and members of Congress have outlined proposals that involve fast-tracking their immigration cases to enable prompt removal. However, such actions could dramatically undermine these children’s rights, especially if they are not properly notified when their court dates are moved up or not given enough time to secure an attorney.

Our current dilemma about what to do with these children provides an important opportunity for the country to engage in a broader conversation about children’s rights. In addition to important rights to due process, other important ones include their right to be reunited with family members currently living in the United States, as well as the right to an education and other critical services.

What will it require to integrate the thousands of unaccompanied migrant children? Why is this so challenging?

The successful integration of these children into local communities is critical. Any time you have a group of newcomers being absorbed into established groups there are challenges. It is important for communities to be able to deal with the confusion, fear, and anxiety that often accompany resident’s perceptions of changes in their communities. This would involve efforts to change the dominant narrative by developing local leadership and by fostering contact between immigrants and the native born. Integrating these Central American youngsters into U.S. communities also involves addressing a variety of needs that require funding and resources.

What are some things that policymakers and communities need to consider before turning these children away or alternately inviting them?

As we move forward, it is important to acknowledge the reality that many of these young people will be in our communities for at least several months. Currently, there is insufficient space in the shelters to house all of these young people.

While these young people wait for their immigration hearings, they are typically released to family members or sponsors. According to a recent report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 36 percent of all unaccompanied youth surveyed prior to 2014 had at least one parent already in the United States. However, counting aunts, uncles, and cousins, who could also provide a link for them to live in the United States, as much as 85 to 90 percent could be placed with a parent or close relative.  As of July 7, 2014, more than 30,000 unaccompanied immigrant youth have been released to sponsors, spread out across every U.S. state.

"Because of the current backlog in the immigration courts, on average, children wait nearly 600 days before a hearing."

Because of the current backlog in the immigration courts, on average, children wait nearly 600 days before a hearing. Given this time frame, and the important linkages these children have in the United States., it is important to think of some actionable steps around integrating these young people into local communities. Above all else, these young people require welcoming teachers, social workers, and administrators who can help them to integrate into schools and communities. In particular, making sure that they are enrolled in school, given language-appropriate instruction, and connected to the community based nonprofit social service infrastructure is critical. Intentional, well-informed education that appreciates the socio-emotional and academic needs of these young ones would be an important bridge to their adjustment. Given the various traumas many of these young people have experienced — both in their native countries and on their journeys to the United States — culturally appropriate counseling and social services will also be key to helping them cope with the adjustment.

What is required of urban or suburban school districts to meet the educational, as well as the social-emotional needs, of these children? Is there essential programming that exists?

When thinking of the potential impact of these young people on local schools and communities, there are bureaucratic issues, resource needs, and public engagement concerns.

First, school districts will need to be prepared to deal with lack of what many U.S. schools see as proper documentation (e.g. birth certificate and vaccination records). These children would need some versions of these documents to ensure they are not kept out of school for whatever bureaucratic barriers.

Then, language integration and expansion are important to consider. Many of these young people come with low levels of Spanish and some speak indigenous languages, where Spanish is their second language. Many districts do not presently have the capacity to address some of these language needs, and may not feel equipped to respond to these needs. But while many school officials may view this as a short-term situation, many of these young people may be part of these communities for many years to come.

An important initial investment would be to identify and train teachers and language professionals who could help schools to be sensitive to these nuanced realities and to expand their capacity to best serve these needs, rather than lumping them into one language group or dumping them into special education classes. In doing so, schools may be providing incorrect diagnoses with accompanying labels that will determine the types of services students receive and will follow them throughout their time in school. Assigning a student to a special education category is a fateful step that should not be taken until all other options have been exhausted.

And finally, in the classroom and the community, teachers and other professionals can provide a counter-narrative to their students and their parents as they present these students in order to protect them from the stigmatizing labels that may precede their arrival. They can also work to historicize the sending communities from which these children are coming and contextualize their migration.

Communities and schools will also need to make additional efforts to incorporate family members and connect them to the proper community organizations that can provide them with legal, social, and economic resources.