Congressman Garcia Visits Local Shelter Housing Unaccompanied Immigrant Children

Press Release

In recent weeks, there has been heightened awareness of unaccompanied immigrant children arriving from Central America in mass numbers. In an effort to address the issue and help identify a solution, Congressman Joe Garcia has spoken with Central American leaders and visited a local children's shelter in Miami-Dade this afternoon.

"The surge of unaccompanied immigrant children arriving in the US, is a humanitarian crisis" said Garcia. "It is heartbreaking to see the trauma these children have suffered. Our first priority should be to ensure they are treated with the utmost compassion."

Over the last two years, the United States has seen an influx of unaccompanied children at the border. It has been reported that these children are being sent by their parents to seek refuge in the U.S. as they escape life-threatening, dangerous conditions in their hometowns. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the US Council of Catholic Bishops, and the Women's Refugee Commission, the number one reason these children are leaving their homes is to escape endemic violence, including extortion, killings, and forced recruitment into street gangs.

Because border towns are unable to accommodate an exorbitant number of individuals, many of them are being relocated to detainment facilities and shelters in non-border towns like Miami. However, because the problem has become so severe, local centers are filling up, running out of space, and desperate to find facilities where to house these children while solutions are sought.

The US isn't the only country seeing an influx of children. While some have come to the US because they have family here, asylum requests by Hondurans, Salvadorans and Guatemalans seeking refuge in their neighboring countries of Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Belize has skyrocketed by a whopping 712 percent since 2009. Yesterday, Congressman Garcia held a conference call with local leaders from Central America to discuss this humanitarian crisis happening in our communities.

This recent issue comes at the height of the comprehensive immigration reform debate in Washington. For months, national leaders, immigrant groups, and others, have pled with Congress to bring immigration reform to the floor for a vote. Despite several attempts, including a discharge petition led by Congressman Garcia, the issue has stalled.

"This issue goes beyond what we see here" exclaimed Garcia. "We need to find both short- and long-term solutions to the bigger immigration issues we are facing in this nation."

Congressman Garcia has long been a leader on this topic, introducing a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill, H.R. 15, late last year, as well as making a continuous call on Congress to vote on this issue.

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