{"id":604500,"date":"2018-07-20T07:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-07-20T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=604500"},"modified":"2018-07-19T13:04:05","modified_gmt":"2018-07-19T19:04:05","slug":"an-immigration-fiasco-on-the-u-s-mexico-border-in-one-government-chart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/07\/an-immigration-fiasco-on-the-u-s-mexico-border-in-one-government-chart\/","title":{"rendered":"An immigration fiasco on the U.S.-Mexico border, in one government chart"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_604503\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-604503\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Pablo_y_Andres_Ortiz_2_IPA_TT-771x517.jpg\" alt=\"Pablo Ortiz\" width=\"771\" height=\"517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Pablo_y_Andres_Ortiz_2_IPA_TT-771x517.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Pablo_y_Andres_Ortiz_2_IPA_TT-336x225.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Pablo_y_Andres_Ortiz_2_IPA_TT-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Pablo_y_Andres_Ortiz_2_IPA_TT-1170x784.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Pablo_y_Andres_Ortiz_2_IPA_TT.jpg 1250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ivan Pierre Aguirre \/ for The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pablo Ortiz and his 3-year-old, Andres, both from Guatemala, walk into the common area of the Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas on July 11. Ortiz and his son were separated by ICE in April and were reunited and released Tuesday.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>COMMENTARY:<\/strong> When did the feds get so fascinated with charts?<\/p>\n<p>The government\u2019s latest visual aid is a flow chart showing the decision-making process for reunifying the children separated from adults as they entered the United States from Mexico. It\u2019s really something. It shows three outcomes for separated children, and only one of them gets the kids home.<\/p>\n<p>Door #1 sends the kids to reunite with their families.<\/p>\n<p>Door #2, labeled \u201cdue diligence actions in the interest of the child,\u201d is what happens \u2014 temporarily \u2014 to kids whose DNA doesn\u2019t match the adults with whom they entered the country, those whose parents are not available or who don\u2019t want to be reunited with their children, and those who fall ill while in the government\u2019s care.<\/p>\n<p>Door #3 is marked \u201cchild remains in ORR [Office of Refugee Resettlement] care for placement.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"DV-viewer-4609285-Reunifications-Filing-11\" class=\"DC-embed DC-embed-document DV-container\"><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/assets.documentcloud.org\/viewer\/loader.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<script>\n  DV.load(\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/4609285-Reunifications-Filing-11.js\", {\n  responsive: true,\n    height: 550,\n    sidebar: false,\n    text: false,\n    container: \"#DV-viewer-4609285-Reunifications-Filing-11\"\n  });\n<\/script>Some get back to their families. Some end up alone, in the care of the United States of America.<\/p>\n<p>Most but not all of these immigrants were entering the country illegally, according to court testimony. And though it wasn\u2019t the reason they were stopped in the first place, federal authorities say some of the adults bringing kids into the United States are not their parents. Some of the adults, it turns out, were baddies of various kinds.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why some of the kids who were separated aren\u2019t being reunited with the adults they came in with. And since they were allowed to come into the country in the first place, many of those children are now wards of the federal government.<\/p>\n<p>To date, the minors appear to be victims, put in this situation first by the parents or other adults who brought them to the United States, then by a federal immigration apparatus ill-prepared to send them along their way, whether that\u2019s outside of this country or into a well-defined system for immigrants seeking asylum here.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve adopted them, at least temporarily. It\u2019s hard to believe that was the government\u2019s desired outcome for immigration and border security policy.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_140206\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-140206\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Ramsey-Ross-336x338.jpg\" alt=\"Ross Ramsey\" width=\"336\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Ramsey-Ross-336x338.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Ramsey-Ross-140x140.jpg 140w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Ramsey-Ross-60x60.jpg 60w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Ramsey-Ross-32x32.jpg 32w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Ramsey-Ross-64x64.jpg 64w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Ramsey-Ross-96x96.jpg 96w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Ramsey-Ross-128x128.jpg 128w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Ramsey-Ross.jpg 665w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 336px) 100vw, 336px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ross Ramsey<\/p><\/div>\n<p>If the idea was that the kids and the adults who brought them shouldn\u2019t be here at all, why not turn them all away at the border and be done with it?<\/p>\n<p>If the idea was that these kids should be brought into this country, placed with families, relatives or foster parents and put on a path to citizenship or deported, why would we deport parents while their kids are still in federal custody or care?<\/p>\n<p>U.S. immigration policy is so scrambled and politicized, the country can\u2019t get this right from almost any point of view. And instead of examining intentions \u2014 sorting out what the congressional and executive branches were trying to do when they put their policies in place \u2014 it\u2019s time to examine the results, intentional or not.<\/p>\n<p>The result is a big, big mess. And as it turns out, the government\u2019s pictures are worth 1,000 words.<\/p>\n<p>Last week\u2019s government art project showed what happened to the 103 infants and toddlers who were supposed to be reunited under a federal court order. The results were discouraging: 57 were reunited by the court-ordered deadline, while 46 were found to be \u201cineligible for reunification.\u201d In 22 cases, the adults in question were themselves questionable, either because they had criminal histories, were not parents, were accused of child abuse or were themselves ill. The other two dozen had either been deported, jailed for other offenses or were in unknown locations. If they get the same results with the 2,551 kids the government now says are subject to court-ordered relocation, about 1,100 don\u2019t have family reunions in their immediate futures.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s probably safe to say Congress and the administration didn\u2019t plan for things to come out this way.<\/p>\n<p>If we take these kids in, for whatever reason, we have to take care of them. It\u2019s a new version of what was known as the Pottery Barn Rule when George W. Bush was president: You break it, you buy it. In those days, it applied to countries. Now it applies to immigrant families.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/about\/staff\/ross-ramsey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ross Ramsey<\/a>\u00a0is executive editor and co-founder of The Texas Tribune.\u00a0Agree with his opinion? Disagree? NMPolitics.net welcomes your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/commentary-submissions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/em><script src=\"https:\/\/cdn.texastribune.org\/pixel\/dot.min.29c708b3d0da5d17a725.js\" integrity=\"sha384-8Xwf\/TlQnmHiajg1t3dn8w4qlF1rmV33o5NAQVXYu0T2q3rHV5579zrSmRjh+XnM\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\" data-tt-canonical=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/07\/18\/immigration-fiasco-mexico-texas-border-chart\/\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The chart lays out what happens to immigrant children separated from the adults who brought them to the U.S. It shows three outcomes. Only one ends in reunification.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":604503,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[140,234],"class_list":["post-604500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-children"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}