Why unaccompanied minors?

[Ouroboros]

Though not all agencies agree on how many parent less minors have appeared on the border, most agree that the number has escalated since January.

I don’t believe that this is a spontaneous development, but news agencies seem utterly disinterested in causes. Someone has promoted the idea of parents and guardians sending kids ahead on the theory that they may gain entry more easily. This strategy doesn’t sound like the someone simply acting from the goodness of his heart, but I’m not sure what the actual motives might be.

I know any thread asking for independent thought will inevitably attract trolls who cannot think, but maybe one or two posters here will rise to the mental challenge.

 

[Metric Mouse]

CNN at the border: Why migrants say they're making the dangerous journey now | CNN

The scene on the banks of the Rio Grande reflects a surge in immigration, particularly children, that is challenging the new administration of President Joe Biden, who entered office promising to reverse the hardline policies of his predecessor.

www.cnn.com

 

[Allan]

Though not all agencies agree on how many parent less minors have appeared on the border, most agree that the number has escalated since January.

I don’t believe that this is a spontaneous development, but news agencies seem utterly disinterested in causes. Someone has promoted the idea of parents and guardians sending kids ahead on the theory that they may gain entry more easily. This strategy doesn’t sound like the someone simply acting from the goodness of his heart, but I’m not sure what the actual motives might be.

Parents desperate to give their children a better life meet corrupt coyotes looking to make money.

I know any thread asking for independent thought will inevitably attract trolls who cannot think, but maybe one or two posters here will rise to the mental challenge.

If your intention is to attract intelligent discussion this isn't the way to encourage it.

 

[joluoto]

Though not all agencies agree on how many parent less minors have appeared on the border, most agree that the number has escalated since January.

I don’t believe that this is a spontaneous development, but news agencies seem utterly disinterested in causes. Someone has promoted the idea of parents and guardians sending kids ahead on the theory that they may gain entry more easily. This strategy doesn’t sound like the someone simply acting from the goodness of his heart, but I’m not sure what the actual motives might be.

I know any thread asking for independent thought will inevitably attract trolls who cannot think, but maybe one or two posters here will rise to the mental challenge.

Some of the kids might be fleeing as much from their families as from their home country. Another thing to consider is that kids and youth are also more gullible and easier to manipulate than adults which traffickers probably are able to use. In other cases the family might simply not afford the kids, and send them to the US in hope that they'll survive better there.

There are similar issues with North Africa kids and youth in some European cities. They arrive often unannounced unlike adults who more often seek asylum, and just vanish into the streets. They are also hard to deport because they lack any papers, meaning the countries they possibly came from simply deny them entry, and you can't actually deport a minor unless you know a family member or a government agency in the minor's home country will take care of it.

 

[bluesmoke]

Though not all agencies agree on how many parent less minors have appeared on the border, most agree that the number has escalated since January.

I don’t believe that this is a spontaneous development, but news agencies seem utterly disinterested in causes. Someone has promoted the idea of parents and guardians sending kids ahead on the theory that they may gain entry more easily. This strategy doesn’t sound like the someone simply acting from the goodness of his heart, but I’m not sure what the actual motives might be.

I know any thread asking for independent thought will inevitably attract trolls who cannot think, but maybe one or two posters here will rise to the mental challenge.

If you're asking others to say what they think are the "motives", perhaps you might rise to the mental challenge yourself and do the research necessary to come up with what you think are the motives and why, first, since it's your OP.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Though not all agencies agree on how many parent less minors have appeared on the border, most agree that the number has escalated since January.

I don’t believe that this is a spontaneous development, but news agencies seem utterly disinterested in causes. Someone has promoted the idea of parents and guardians sending kids ahead on the theory that they may gain entry more easily. This strategy doesn’t sound like the someone simply acting from the goodness of his heart, but I’m not sure what the actual motives might be.

I know any thread asking for independent thought will inevitably attract trolls who cannot think, but maybe one or two posters here will rise to the mental challenge.

My best guess would be that the unaccompanied minors would qualify as “dreamers” and if (when?) DACA becomes law, including a path to citizenship, these (then legal immigrants or US citizens) could (soon?) get the rest of the (extended?) family to gain (legal) entry via ‘chain migration’.

 

[Ouroboros]

If you're asking others to say what they think are the "motives", perhaps you might rise to the mental challenge yourself and do the research necessary to come up with what you think are the motives and why, first, since it's your OP.

The “mental challenge” remark should not offend anyone but trolls who want simplistic answers.

 

[Ouroboros]

Some of the kids might be fleeing as much from their families as from their home country. Another thing to consider is that kids and youth are also more gullible and easier to manipulate than adults which traffickers probably are able to use. In other cases the family might simply not afford the kids, and send them to the US in hope that they'll survive better there.

There are similar issues with North Africa kids and youth in some European cities. They arrive often unannounced unlike adults who more often seek asylum, and just vanish into the streets. They are also hard to deport because they lack any papers, meaning the countries they possibly came from simply deny them entry, and you can't actually deport a minor unless you know a family member or a government agency in the minor's home country will take care of it.

Thanks, good ideas there.

 

[Sweden]

Though not all agencies agree on how many parent less minors have appeared on the border, most agree that the number has escalated since January.

I don’t believe that this is a spontaneous development, but news agencies seem utterly disinterested in causes. Someone has promoted the idea of parents and guardians sending kids ahead on the theory that they may gain entry more easily. This strategy doesn’t sound like the someone simply acting from the goodness of his heart, but I’m not sure what the actual motives might be.

I know any thread asking for independent thought will inevitably attract trolls who cannot think, but maybe one or two posters here will rise to the mental challenge.

Conjecture unsupported by evidence is worthless. As you so rightly say " ... but I'm not sure what the actual motives might be."

 

[Ouroboros]

My best guess would be that the unaccompanied minors would qualify as “dreamers” and if (when?) DACA becomes law, including a path to citizenship, these (then legal immigrants or US citizens) could (soon?) get the rest of the (extended?) family to gain (legal) entry via ‘chain migration’.

This too is a fair possibility. One of the anomalies I perceive is that throughout Trump’s tenure, all we heard about was the cruel separation of families, which almost certainly did happen due to the ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court prior to Trump’s presidency. With the “kinder, gentler” Biden in charge, I would have expected whole families to once again assail the border. But possibly migrant families don’t really believe that
Biden will practice “catch and release,” particularly because of Covid. One possible solution: send the kids, who are as a whole low Covid risks, in the hope that, as you say, they will have more chances to integrate and then to be “anchors” for their elders.

Cool; the back and forth of intelligent discussion!