http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/l ... 83,00.html

Boulder native researches kids who try to enter U.S.

By Kate Larsen, Boulder Daily Camera
September 18, 2006
As the immigration debate continues on American soil, Boulder native Betsy Wier is working south of the border on behalf of thousands of children whose journeys to the United States are cut short.
Nearly 40,000 Central American children will try to get into the country this year, and experts say the numbers are growing.

More unaccompanied minors are attempting the long and dangerous trek. Of those, several thousand end up far from home in government detention centers and shelters. Some are dumped in large cities with no way to get back home, and others are simply shooed from Mexico into unsafe regions of Guatemala.

"There are all of these kids in limbo," Wier said. "They fail to get through Mexico; I'm trying to find out what the heck happens to them."

Wier, 32, is working to find out why the minors leave home and tracking them to find out how they are being treated once they're caught. From her home in Honduras, she is heading a research project for Catholic Relief Services, an arm of the Catholic Church that helps refugees, immigrants and victims of human trafficking all over the world.

"Most people are focused on the Mexican-American border, which is important," Wier said. "But this issue is so serious, and it rarely makes it into the press."

The project aims to help governments and relief organizations better protect the children.

Mary DeLori, a strategic issues adviser with Catholic Relief Services, said Wier's research is unique. Governments and humanitarian organizations in Central America have been paying more attention to the issue in recent years, she said.