# Finding the parents of the 500+ lost children **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 10, 2020, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-parents-of-the-500-lost-children/925237 "2020-11-10T18:12:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-parents-of-the-500-lost-children/925237/21 "2020-11-12T14:44:37Z")
They could be dead. They _were_ fleeing violence. ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-parents-of-the-500-lost-children/925237/22 "2020-11-12T15:14:08Z")
“Most migrants traveling in the caravan tell CBS News they’re fleeing extreme **poverty** , but that’s **not a condition for asylum or refugee status** in the U.S” > ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-parents-of-the-500-lost-children/925237/23 "2020-11-12T16:25:34Z")
Yeah, so? That headline is not relevant to this discussion. To use it, without even bothering to give a comment on it is misleading at best. Did you even click the link, or just get it from a google glurge? The comments right below the tweet refute that it relates to whatever point you are trying to make here. Most of that caravan did _not_ cross the border and seek asylum. > **[A previous migrant caravan faced the same federal scrutiny. Here is how that...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/10/23/migrant-caravan-how-many-sought-asylum/1741030002/)** > > Trump doesn’t believe caravan migrants are legitimately seeking asylum. Federal data shows hundreds passed an initial test after last April’s caravan. > [@](#): > > According to data and [congressional testimony](https://homeland.house.gov/hearing/stopping-the-daily-border-caravan-time-to-build-a-policy-wall/) from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials, 401 members of that caravan requested asylum at ports of entry, a legal right enshrined in U.S. law and international conventions the U.S. is party to. > > Federal officials interviewed those asylum-seekers and found 374 of them, or 93 percent, passed the first test on the path toward asylum, where they must demonstrate that they have a “credible fear” of returning to their home country. That’s higher than the 76 percent approval rate that all asylum-seekers received in fiscal year 2018, according to Citizenship and Immigration Services data. One of the, IMHO, massive problems with our asylum system is that it only considers persecution by the state to be a valid reason(and even then, this Trump admin has been pretty spotty on that). So, a gang that is going to kill you if you don’t let them rape your daughter is generally _not_ something that will end up getting you granted asylum. Still gets you killed and your daughter raped, though. At least some of these people were able to get their children out of danger, even if they were sent back to it. ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-parents-of-the-500-lost-children/925237/24 "2020-11-12T16:42:39Z")
I was replying to YOUR comment. Most immigrants are not fleeing violence but instead are **looking for better economic opportunities.**. If they are fleeing violence **they can apply for asylum**. Immigrants are more likely to experience violence by attempting to cross the border than staying home. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-parents-of-the-500-lost-children/925237/25 "2020-11-12T16:50:22Z")
If you are replying to MY comment, we are talking about these children, who were among those who came here seeking asylum from violence. The fact that most immigrants are not fleeing violence has no bearing on those who are. They did apply for asylum, had their children taken away, and then were sent back to the violence they fled from. ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-parents-of-the-500-lost-children/925237/26 "2020-11-12T17:03:12Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > …They did apply for asylum, had their children taken away, and then were sent back to the violence they fled from. We don’t know that they applied for asylum. Do you have a source for that claim? ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-parents-of-the-500-lost-children/925237/27 "2020-11-12T17:59:48Z")
I will say that I am having difficulty in tracking down specifics about specific groups, as it is all just a mish mash of evil and maladministration, but here you can find that parents were in fact separated from their children when applying for asylum. > **[They came seeking asylum. Now they want their children back.](https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/they-came-seeking-asylum-now-they-want-their-children-back-n886781)** > > Distraught migrant parents are struggling with their asylum interviews after being separated from their children, immigration advocates say. > [@](#): > > even though he entered the U.S. legally at an official border crossing, where the Trump administration promised asylum-seekers would not be prosecuted or [separated from their children](https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/iris-n886701), José was detained and had his son taken away, according to advocates who are helping with his case. > [@](#): > > Other migrants, including at least one other father from Honduras, were separated from their children after seeking asylum at official border crossings > [@](#): > > The reunification process has been even slower and more confusing for asylum-seekers, who in some cases had to choose between pursuing their asylum claim while remaining in federal custody, or dropping the claim and reuniting with their children but then face deportation. > **[The parents of 545 children separated at the border still haven’t been found....](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/21/family-separation-parents-border-covid/)** > > Hundreds of migrant children are scattered across the country, living in foster care or with relatives, during a pandemic that has all but halted the legal effort to locate their parents. > [@](#): > > often one parent and one child — to seek asylum in the United States. With limited family detention beds, most were released together to await an asylum hearing. > > To counter the surge, the Trump administration opted to prosecute parents for the crime of crossing the border illegally, and then separated them from their children. > > When parents returned to immigration detention after a brief court hearing, their children were gone. > > Officials transferred the minors — some as young as infants — to U.S. Health and Human Services shelters across the United States. A federal judge and government inspectors found that the Trump administration did not have a plan to quickly reunite them. As the entire point of your comments seems to be that that you think that there is some nefarious reason as to why they cannot locate the parents of these children, could you be more specific as to what reason you have? I think that Occam’s razor is pretty useful here, in that these were people who _were_ fleeing violence, even if it was not state sponsored, and therefore not a valid claim in the Trump administration, and were sent back to that place that they had left. As to this “question” of yours: > [@agzem](#): > > If that’s the case then you gotta wonder why even the relatives can’t find the parents. Mexico and Central America are not remote deserted areas. Shouldn’t be that hard for the parents to find a way to get in contact with their relatives or DHS. > [@](#): > > With little more than a misspelled name or an outdated phone number, the attorneys travel to remote, mountainous villages that are sometimes controlled by gangs, and residents often are suspicious of all outsiders. The roads to these tiny hamlets are bumpy and ragged, and the prevailing tongue might be the Mayan language of Mam, not Spanish. > > These human rights defenders “take the minimal, often inaccurate or out-of-date information provided by the government and do in-person investigations to find these parents,” Nan Schivone, the group’s legal director, said in a statement to The Washington Post, noting it was already “an arduous and time-consuming process on a good day.” So, you no longer gotta wonder why they are hard to find, if they are still alive. This is worth a read as well, if you are actually curious as to what happened with asylum seekers and their children. > **[Family separation – a timeline](https://www.splcenter.org/news/2022/03/23/family-separation-timeline)** > > Long before the Trump administration implemented its “zero tolerance” immigration enforcement policy in 2018, it was already separating children from their parents as part of a “pilot program” conducted in the El Paso, Texas, area and along other... ---
**Author:** ![agzem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@agzem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agzem)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-parents-of-the-500-lost-children/925237/28 "2020-11-12T18:11:01Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I will say that I am having difficulty in tracking down specifics about specific groups Yes, I haven’t seen anything showing that the parents applied for asylum. But the US doesn’t want them to be separated…that’s why they are trying to contact the parents so their children can be reunited. And there’s a reason we need to discourage immigrants from attempting to cross the border. It’s dangerous to put a child in that situation. > **[80% Of Central American Women, Girls Are Raped Crossing Into The U.S.](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/central-america-migrants-rape_n_5806972?guccounter=1)** > > 80% Of Central American Women, Girls Are Raped Crossing Into The U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-parents-of-the-500-lost-children/925237/29 "2020-11-12T20:05:30Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Once we’ve actually located both parents and children, then DNA testing is a reasonable way to settle any disagreements about whether people are related or not. Case in point, from the lawsuit in question before it was certified for class action, > “The Court ordered the Government to take a DNA saliva sample (or swab), which confirmed that Ms. L. was the mother of S.S. Four days later, Ms. L. and S.S. were reunited after being separated for nearly five months.” _Ms. L. v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement_, 310 F.Supp.3d 1133 (2018) ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-parents-of-the-500-lost-children/925237/30 "2020-11-12T20:56:16Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > > [@agzem](#): > > > > If that’s the case then you gotta wonder why even the relatives can’t find the parents. Mexico and Central America are not remote deserted areas. Shouldn’t be that hard for the parents to find a way to get in contact with their relatives or DHS. > > They could be dead. They _were_ fleeing violence. **azgem** has a point, we don’t know that _all_ of the parents were fleeing violence. There are good reasons to think, at the very least, that a significant number of parents who were deported did not meet the United States’ asylum requirements (as you note, that excludes domestic or gang violence). On the other hand we know for a fact that at least _some_ of the parents were fleeing violence. Both Ms. L and Ms. C, original plaintiffs in the lawsuit, passed the credible fear test. We know for a fact that some families were separated after lawfully seeking asylum at a port of entry (Ms. L), and that some families were separated after illegally crossing the border (Ms. C). I know there’s a serious problem where we deport people to El Salvador who are promptly murdered because they come from a neighborhood associated with one gang, and are deported back to a neighborhood under control by another gang. Over a hundred deportees have been killed in that country, around the same 2017-2019 timeframe, if I remember correctly. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-parents-of-the-500-lost-children/925237/31 "2020-11-12T21:07:27Z")
> [@agzem](#): > > Yes, I haven’t seen anything showing that the parents applied for asylum. But the US doesn’t want them to be separated I think that my links do indicate that at least some number of them did. How many is what is hard to pin down. > [@agzem](#): > > And there’s a reason we need to discourage immigrants from attempting to cross the border. It’s dangerous to put a child in that situation. We could actually solve that with a more reasonable and fair immigration policy. That they would go through that sort of risk should really tell you how desperate they are. > [@Max\_S](#): > > There are good reasons to think, at the very least, that a significant number of parents who were deported did not meet the United States’ asylum requirements (as you note, that excludes domestic or gang violence). Just because they did not meet our pretty ridiculous standards does not mean that they were not fleeing violence. > [@Max\_S](#): > > Over a hundred deportees have been killed in that country, around the same 2017-2019 timeframe, if I remember correctly. We are literally sending them to their deaths. And we know it. ---
**Author:** ![rboyce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rboyce/32/4066_2.png) [@rboyce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rboyce)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-parents-of-the-500-lost-children/925237/32 "2020-11-12T21:35:46Z")
**Separation has more than one meaning.** It is my guess that 98% of the parents and 98% of the children want and need is a means to communicate between the parents and their children. The **steering committee** should in the least open a means of communication between the kids and their parents. **It is the least they could do** If need be, a trust fund could be created to pay the phone bill. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-the-parents-of-the-500-lost-children/925237.md?page=1)