I Came To The US And All I Got Was This Orange Jumpsuit

[struggle4progress]

Age Determination Authority Of Unaccompanied Alien Children And The Demand For Legislative Reform
by Jennifer Smythe

Introduction

Imagine that you are a child under the age of 18 living in an undeveloped country wrought with persecution and violence. At risk of homelessness, torture, or death, you are sent by a relative alone to the United States to seek refuge. Upon your arrival, you are detained in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) custody, during which time you produce a birth certificate showing your age to be 16. After being subjected to dental exams and wrist-bone X-rays, which place your age between 16 and 19, the DHS insists you are an adult and sends you to a maximum-security adult prison. As an inmate, you face months or years of physical and psychological abuse, while pro bono attorneys and members of Congress fight with the DHS over the truth about your age. Difficult to imagine? This scenario illustrates the plight of an untold number of unaccompanied alien children<1> who arrive in the U.S. each year. <snip>

Ernesto Joseph was 16 years old when he fled to the U.S. from Haiti after the death of his parents.<2> He was taken into federal custody upon his arrival, released briefly, and then re-arrested pending a governmental dispute about his age.<3> Despite providing the DHS an authenticated birth certificate,<4> he spent 7 ½ months in adult detention and 3 ½ months alone in a guarded hotel room, while the DHS insisted he was 19.<5> Joseph was eventually released, but his age remained in dispute and the DHS continued to pursue his deportation until U.S. Senator, Kendrick Meek, cornered Homeland Security Secretary, Tom Ridge, on the House floor, and negotiated his freedom.<6>

Mohamed Boukrage became homeless at the age of 10, after his parents and sister were killed in a car bomb in his native Algeria.<7> Following their deaths, he wandered around Europe for six years as a homeless juvenile.<8> At the age of 16, he boarded a cargo ship headed to the U.S.<9> He was taken into federal custody upon his arrival.<10> Despite his claims of being merely a juvenile, he spent two years in adult detention.<11> Boukrage was never released into the U.S., but instead deported by the DHS without the knowledge of his pro bono attorney.<12> <snip>

Kenier Tima was 16 years old when he fled to the U.S. from Haiti based on fear he would killed by forces loyal to former Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.<17> He was taken into federal custody upon his arrival.<18> Despite producing an authentic birth certificate and testimony of relatives as to his age, he spent nine months in an adult prison based on a DHS dental exam, which placed his age at 18.<19> Tima was finally transferred to a juvenile facility after immigration officials reluctantly classified him as a minor strictly for the purpose of where he would be detained.<20> <snip>

http://www.ilw.com/lawyers/articles/2005,0328-smythe.shtm

[Fire]

1. nevermind that

Nevermind that the whole primise of locking these people who have commited no crime other than crossing an imaginary line is wrong. Honest and hardworking people should be free to live and work where they please.

[Name removed]

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