California residents may benefit from understanding more about the problems that many immigrant children encounter. Several thousand children now face the threat of deportation after being brought over the Mexico border into the U.S. during 2014. In addition, some of these children are targeted as enforcement priorities for immigration prosecutors, while their young parents may qualify to remain in the U.S. based on federal programs providing asylum for neglected, abandoned and abused children.
Immigrant children brought into the U.S. illegally could potentially be returned to their native country, without a parent or adult to provide care. A number of the children brought over from Central America still have cases pending in U.S. immigration court. Many of the children are seeking asylum in the U.S. due to the substantial terror that domestic strife and gang violence present in the own country. Others attempt to qualify for the federal government’s abandoned children program.
Immigrant children allowed to stay in the U.S. must still contend with reuniting with estranged relatives, struggling with school taught in an unfamiliar language and the trauma associated with the actual relocation. During the 2014 fiscal year, over 57,000 children unaccompanied by adults arrived at the border between Mexico and the United States from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. An approximate 18,000 more have done so since then.
People who need help with immigration issues can often benefit from consulting with legal counsel. Lawyers may be prepared to help gather the documentation needed to meet the qualification requirements for obtaining certain non-immigrant visas or to file a petition for immigration.
