10 Years Old, Tearful and Confused After a Sudden Deportation

Caitlin Dickerson - The New York Times

This article tells the story of a 10 year-old boy who arrived to the United States unaccompanied from Honduras and who was quickly deported back to the dangerous place he had fled. "Hundreds of migrant children and teenagers have been swiftly deported by American authorities amid the coronavirus pandemic without the opportunity to speak to a social worker or plea for asylum from the violence in their home countries — a reversal of years of established practice for dealing with young foreigners who arrive in the United States," according to the article.

"Historically," says the article, "young migrants who showed up at the border without adult guardians were provided with shelter, education, medical care and a lengthy administrative process that allowed them to make a case for staying in the United States. Those who were eventually deported were sent home only after arrangements had been made to assure they had a safe place to return to." Now, however, "that process appears to have been abruptly thrown out." According to the article, some children have been "rousted from their beds in the middle of the night in U.S. government shelters and put on planes out of the country without any notification to their families."