Durbin: Compassion, Not Deportation For Unaccompanied Minors At Border

John Gregory -- Illinois Radio Network

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is against deporting immigrant children who have come into the U.S. from Central America.

According to U.S. Department of Homeland Security, more than 47,000 unaccompanied children crossed into the United States between October 2013 and May 2014. Durbin says many of them came from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. While the short-term concern is the children’s safety, Durbin says the long-term solution is to stem the tide of people fleeing those countries:

“We’re getting the word down to these countries: stop this,” Durbin said. “This is dangerous. Many of these kids are killed on their way to the United States. Girls are raped. It is an awful situation and we’ve got to stop this flow of infants to our border. For those that are coming, let’s deal with this compassionately.”

Durbin says children as young as 5 years old are smuggled into the country to escape higher murder rates in Central America. Many, according to Durbin, are carrying the phone number of someone living in the United States, and officials are attempting to find those family members.

According to the United Nations, more than half of those unaccompanied children may qualify for refugee protection under international law.