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12-year-old Bahamian girl separated from parents, ends up in Miami home for migrant kids
A 12-year-old Bahamian girl was separated from family at a South Florida airport after fleeing the destruction of Hurricane Dorian and was sent by U.S. Customs officials to a Miami Gardens shelter for abused or abandoned children.
Kaytora Paul, 12 — accompanied by her godmother — had flown from Nassau to West Palm Beach Sunday night after being evacuated from the hurricane-ravaged Abaco island. However, when the two landed in Florida, U.S. Customs and Border Protection transferred them over to Miami International Airport and ultimately separated the pair because the woman wasn’t the child’s biological parent, the girl’s mother, Katty Paul, told the Miami Herald Tuesday.
Officials also refused to give the girl’s biological aunt, who had come to pick her up at the airport, custody. The young evacuee is currently being housed at His House Children’s Home in Miami Gardens, under the custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. His House is a facility used by the U.S. government to house unaccompanied migrant children. The girl would be considered an “unaccompanied minor” because she wasn’t physically accompanied by her biological mother or father.
Typically, children under 13 are sent to His House as well as Boystown in Cutler Bay, another South Florida tender-age center. Any kids ages 13 to 17 have been sent to the Homestead detention center.
CBP and HHS did not immediately respond to emails from the Miami Herald on Tuesday. A His House employee told the Herald to contact the U.S. government. Federal sources say cases like Paul’s are expected to rise as more Bahamians continue to seek refuge after the storm.
“I thought losing my house was devastating. Or having to relocate to a different island or country was devastating,” Katty Paul said. “But when I found out that they got her, my baby, I mean, there are no words. It was at that moment that I really lost everything.”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article234933792.html
Kaytora Paul, 12 — accompanied by her godmother — had flown from Nassau to West Palm Beach Sunday night after being evacuated from the hurricane-ravaged Abaco island. However, when the two landed in Florida, U.S. Customs and Border Protection transferred them over to Miami International Airport and ultimately separated the pair because the woman wasn’t the child’s biological parent, the girl’s mother, Katty Paul, told the Miami Herald Tuesday.
Officials also refused to give the girl’s biological aunt, who had come to pick her up at the airport, custody. The young evacuee is currently being housed at His House Children’s Home in Miami Gardens, under the custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. His House is a facility used by the U.S. government to house unaccompanied migrant children. The girl would be considered an “unaccompanied minor” because she wasn’t physically accompanied by her biological mother or father.
Typically, children under 13 are sent to His House as well as Boystown in Cutler Bay, another South Florida tender-age center. Any kids ages 13 to 17 have been sent to the Homestead detention center.
CBP and HHS did not immediately respond to emails from the Miami Herald on Tuesday. A His House employee told the Herald to contact the U.S. government. Federal sources say cases like Paul’s are expected to rise as more Bahamians continue to seek refuge after the storm.
“I thought losing my house was devastating. Or having to relocate to a different island or country was devastating,” Katty Paul said. “But when I found out that they got her, my baby, I mean, there are no words. It was at that moment that I really lost everything.”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article234933792.html
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