Where Are They? Are They Really Gone?
Recently the news that ICE lost track of nearly 1,500 children stormed headlines on news and social media. At a glance, the way this news was being pushed to the front lines of every outlet made it seem that this was something very recent and nobody had known about it until now; however, that is not the case. The most minor of internet searches will show that this actually happened in the last few months of 2017, and it has only become major news as of late. Why? Nobody is completely sure, but what remains known is that this is something important and regardless of why it has suddenly come to light, it cannot be ignored.
The current administration has a known stance on immigration, and it is no secret that they hold fast to a virtually nonexistent tolerance policy for people in the United States illegally; yes, children too. An article from CNN written by Dakin Andone states that, “The federal government has placed thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children in the homes of sponsors, but last year it couldn't account for nearly 1,500 of them.” These children that were taken by the government and placed with sponsors were unaccompanied by adults or separated from their family when they crossed into the United States. The children were brought to sponsors that were typically people that had ties to the children specifically, whether it be by blood or otherwise. However, in and after the process of all of this being done, around 1,500 children became unaccounted for.
These children were dismissed by officials as not legally their problem to deal with, and claimed some of them were merely runaways. The same article from CNN by Dakin And one states, “An additional 28 had run away” after quoting Steven Wagner, who is said in the article to be an official in the department of Health and Human Services, on his stance on the situation. When this headline broke out recently, a lot of people talking on the subject on social media heavily suggested that some sort of trafficking issue could be at play here. The idea that the government had purposefully lost these children was becoming more and more talked about with each day, but there was never any concrete evidence to back these theories, just thoughts and ideas rooted in past government activity.
While the whole truth has yet to be concretely proven, one can only wonder just how much is at play here, and what will happen next with this story.
ANNA LOPEZ is a rising sophomore at Ithaca college. She is a writing major with aspirations of heading to law school after completing her undergraduate years. She loves animals, art, and travel; she can't wait to see where writing takes her!
