Unaccompanied Kids and Unintended Consequences
Unaccompanied Kids and Unintended Consequences
By
Sam Quinones
Washington's broken immigration system was brought into sharp relief by the crisis at the U.S. border, but the political reaction doesn't help matters.
In 2014, a rumor spread through Central America that anyone who hoped to reunify with family members in the United States should leave immediately. The rumor, apparently picked up and relayed by one or more television reporters in Honduras, was unequivocal: it was now or never.
The TV reports claimed that, due to “changes in U.S. policy,” not only would anyone who crossed the border be permitted to join family members already living there, but children who showed up alone at customs and immigration posts would be sent to their families.
“The rumors [...
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