A reflection on the child immigration crisis

[Diocese of Virginia] My husband, Tom, and I arrived in Guatemala for a week of vacation, language immersion and visits with our “adopted grandchildren” the day after newspapers told of the discovery of the body of Gilberto Francisco Ramos Juarez in the Texas desert. Gilberto was a 15-year-old boy from Huehuetenango, Guatemala, who was determined to join his brother in Chicago. There, he planned to go to school and work at night so that he could send money home to help his mother, who suffers from epilepsy. He never made it, but was separated from or abandoned by his “coyote,” the guide paid a large sum to take him across the border, and died under the relentless sun. The news of his death left the people of Guatemala, a country that Tom and I have come to love, reeling in grief and deep in debate about the child immigration crisis.

 As we talked with friends, old and new, in the beautiful city of Antigua, we heard that Guatemala was listed by The Wall Street Journal in April of this year as the country with the fifth highest murder rate in the world. We heard of a poverty rate that is soaring, gang violence that is on the increase, and killings of girls and women that are rising dramatically. No wonder families are anxious for their children to escape danger. We heard a shared grief and a resounding call to action and prayer so that there will be no more deaths. Beyond these commonalities, opinions varied widely. We heard from parents who could not imagine sending their child alone, even in the care of a trusted “coyote,” across the perilous desert. We heard from other parents who could not imagine not taking the risk of sending a beloved child to a safer life with a relative in the United States. These issues are clearly complicated. There are not just two sides. There are as many sides as there are stories of parents who love their children and want for them to have half a chance – a chance not so much for a better life but for a life, period.

This crisis of unaccompanied child immigrants points to the need for our nation to reform our immigration policy. The policy that requires each child entering the United States without a parent to have a hearing was put in place to protect children from sex trafficking. That same policy, meant to guard children from harm, is now a barrier as the wait for hearings becomes years-long. Change is needed to respond more quickly, fairly and compassionately to the children among us. They are children, after all. We are a nation that holds children and families in high esteem, and our immigration policies will be at their best when they honor families, promote justice, and care for the youngest and most vulnerable.  

This crisis also points to the need for the people of Guatemala and other Central American nations to address together with the community of nations the poverty and violence that so many children seek to escape. Guatemala has already begun an education campaign to counter rumors and assumptions and to give parents clear information, but political action to correct social ills must accompany education. The issue of children at our border is a complex matter that will not go away easily. It provides an invitation to us as Americans to live out the promise of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” on which our culture is based. And it provides an opportunity for us as Christians to live out the best of our faith as we live for the sake of others.

I invite you to join me in prayer for immigrant children and their families and for all of us as we struggle with these issues. Let us pray:

Lord Jesus Christ, beloved child of God, whose parents fled with you across the border to a foreign land so that you might live, we pray to you for the immigrant children who have come to our land. Give comfort to those who are held in detention centers as they await their futures. Give hope to family members in the United States and back home as they wait for news of their children’s fate. Inspire our political leaders to develop wise and clear policies in the midst of complex realities. And teach us all how to follow you by caring in concrete ways, as you did, for the most vulnerable among us. All this we ask for the sake of your great love. Amen.    

 — The Rt. Rev. Susan E. Goff is Bishop Suffragan of Virginia