This interview presents problem but no solution offered. The largest problem at the border is that “many parents are in Central America and ready to be reunited once the Biden administration makes good on its promise to bring them back to the United States to be with their children.”
From the surface the situation is improved. According to this report of CNN, “The number of unaccompanied migrant children held in jail-like conditions by US Customs and Border Protection dropped nearly 84% in the span of a month.” The reason is due to an impressive coordination: “In recent weeks, the Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for the care of migrant children, has opened up a string of temporary shelters to accommodate minors.”
The problem still exists and could even be worse for reasons I will discuss below. Now, a different approach is worthy of trying. Instead of letting the government shoulder the burden of keeping the minors, we may want to spread the kids to different households, asking volunteer families to be the temporary foster parents for them, with federal government paying some money to take care of a part of the costs of having an extra child living in the family.
It costs much for the government to find the parents and even if we found them, they know their kids are living with government facilities and they are not worried at all of the welfare of their kids, nor are they in a hurry to come to get their kids back. They know that the government cannot hold the kids for too long before Biden will have to change his mind and allow the parents to enter for asylum or permit of entry — a home run in their mind.
The key is to send a message to the biological parents of the minors that their kids are no longer with the government but with private households. I am from China and I know what the Latino parents are thinking: As long as their kids are with the government, they do not need to worry about foods and safety, as everything will be taken care of by Uncle Sam. Putting the kids in the facilities of DHS only makes them feeling better because the conditions will have to be better than the jail like detention centers.
Once they know the kids are no longer with government but with foster parents, the ball will be on their side. They know they must act fast to be united with their own kids, as time is no longer on their side — they may lose their kids to their foster parents. They will contact the government quickly to find out where their kids are — instead of government searching for them. Once they show up, the government will ask them to sign papers to bring their kids back home, rather than staying in this country. To be nice to these poor parents, the US may want to give them some spending money to make their returning trip easier.
Had my first vaccine shot this morning and my body responded well. I decided to have the shot on my dominant (i.e., right) arm for better blood circulation.