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  1. #1
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    Program for immigrant kids to start N.C.

    http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/my ... 884887.htm










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    Posted on Mon, Oct. 30, 2006

    N.C.

    Program for immigrant kids to start in

    By Danica Coto
    McClatchy Newspapers

    CHARLOTTE - The 17-year-old girl from Honduras cringed every time she heard her bedridden mother complain about being hungry.

    So she slipped out of the house in May and left for the United States, with plans to find a job in New York, a city she thought she might like based on what she had seen on TV, she said.

    The girl, who didn't want to be identified, didn't tell her family she was leaving. They'll be happy, she remembered thinking, once I send them money.

    She was caught at the Texas border, then sent to a children's detention center in Miami. They asked if she had any relatives living in the U.S.

    Yes, she said, I have an aunt who lives in Charlotte.

    The girl arrived a month ago, one of about 250 children who crossed the border alone, were caught, and then temporarily released to relatives living in North Carolina while their case went to court.

    Soon, children like her will get help from attorneys and social service workers.

    North Carolina will be the first state in the country with a field office representing the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.

    The goal is to identify children arrested by immigration officials and released temporarily into the custody of relatives, said Gregory Chen, committee director of policy analysis and research.

    Two Raleigh-based case managers soon will be hired as part of North Carolina's National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children program, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, one of the nation's largest philanthropies.

    Case managers will work with at least 50 pro-bono attorneys who agreed to be part of the program. Among them is Charlotte attorney George Pappas.

    If a child is alone, he said, they need protection regardless of their nationality or legal status.

    "There are no borders when it comes to children," he said.

    Pappas is defending the 17-year-old Honduran girl, who faces a deportation hearing early next year.

    The goal is to secure visas or political asylum for those who apply, he said, or at least seek voluntary deportation so they can still apply to come here legally.

    Mexican children usually are sent back across the border as part of the "voluntary return" program, but Central American children are detained longer because U.S. officials have to determine what country they're from and whether those countries will accept them. In addition, attorneys take up these cases because some children qualify for political asylum or a special visa.

    The majority of the targeted children in North Carolina are from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, and they live in the Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham regions, Chen said. Some had North Carolina as their final destination, while others only had relatives living here who were willing to claim them, said Sarah Petrin, spokeswoman for U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

    Many currently remain under the radar because they don't have money for an attorney to take their case. They often struggle in school, and some went through traumatic events in their native countries, Petrin said.

    North Carolina was chosen as the program site for two reasons: because of its burgeoning undocumented population - estimated at 390,000 - and because it lacks resources to help immigrants, Chen said. Other states like California and Texas have large immigrant populations, but they also have enough resources for them because the populations are so established, he said.






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    © 2006 The Sun News and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
    http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com
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  2. #2
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    Here's a thought. Ask the minors where they're from and let one of the 50 pro-bono attorneys accompany them back home.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

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