Detention center also holds kids who've lived in US their whole lives
At the 3,200-bed Homestead, Fla., detention center for unaccompanied immigrant youths, one 15-year-old boy is an aberration: He has lived in the United States virtually his entire life.
Far from being a recent arrival at the southern border, the teen entered the country when he was a 9-month-old infant; he has lived in Houston his whole life, along with his mother, who brought him to the U.S. in 2004.
More than two weeks ago, the teen was detained in Texas when a local county cop pulled his uncle over for speeding. When they could not produce immigration documents, the boy and his uncle were promptly arrested, then separated. The teen now could face deportation although he came to the U.S. as a 9-month-old infant.
Lawyers for teens at the Homestead facility say they’ve represented at least 20 other kids with similar cases: all were apprehended in the United States far from border towns or ports of entries without immigration documents ...
“As you can imagine, they experience extreme trauma when they are suddenly ripped from their families and their communities and taken to detention,” said Michelle Ortiz, deputy director of Americans for Immigrant Justice, the organization that provides legal services for detained children in Homestead.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/florida-detention-center-for-immigrant-youths-also-holds-kids-whove-lived-in-the-us-their-whole-lives/ar-AAEiJhr
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