Thread: Northern N.M. group using grant to aid asylum-seekers

Northern N.M. group using grant to aid asylum-seekers

• By Dillon Mullan | dmullan@sfnewmexican.com
• Mar 23, 2019 Updated 13 hrs ago

Amid an ongoing immigration debate and sharp divisions over the president’s declaration last month of a border security emergency, a contingent of Northern New Mexicans has begun making monthly trips to the southern border to address what immigrant advocates and Border Security officials agree has reached a crisis level: a surge of families and unaccompanied children seeking refuge.



Through a new project of Las Cumbres Community Services, an Española-based nonprofit, a team of social workers, therapists and volunteers are helping these mostly Central American asylum-seekers — many of whom fled violence in their home countries and traveled thousands of miles in dangerous conditions to reach the border — navigate the U.S. immigration court system.



They are also sharing information about a nationwide network of trauma-informed support to aid immigrants when they reach their destination in the U.S.



Las Cumbres, a nearly half-century-old organization that provides an array of family support services, received a $307,000 federal grant in December from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to aid immigrant families that have been separated while awaiting a decision on their request for refuge.



The goal, the organization says, is to provide behavioral health treatment to traumatized children and parents, strengthen New Mexico’s network of shelters and educate immigrants about the services available in the U.S.

“These families and these unaccompanied minors have a significant amount of trauma,” said Stacey Frymier, Las Cumbres’ director of child and family services. “Not only what happened on the immigration journey, but what happened in their home country that caused them to leave.”



Waves of families, along with children and youth traveling alone, have been overwhelming the Border Patrol’s detention system and shelters near the border in both the U.S. and Mexico.



Last week, Robert Perez, deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol’s parent agency, told the Associated Press, “We have an unprecedented crisis upon us.”



In February, the Border Patrol detained about 66,000 adults and children crossing the border illegally, an all-time monthly high, according to the AP. Immigration authorities expect the number of parents and children to surpass 50,000 this month, the AP reported, and reach up to 180,000 in May.



In the past, asylum-seekers often were released from U.S. custody and allowed to settle with immigration sponsors while their court cases proceeded — a process that can take years.



But under new Migrant Protection Protocols released by the Department of Homeland Security in January, many asylum-seekers are returned to Mexico to wait until their date for an immigration court hearing.



Some of the asylum-seekers end up at Casa del Migrante, a shelter in Juárez, Mexico, with space for 1,000 people. They are given a number and put on a waiting list until Border Patrol calls them to their appointments at the port of entry in El Paso, said José González, director of Las Cumbres’ new Santuario del Corazón project.



González, along with Frymier, a licensed clinical counselor, and therapist Faye Finley, visited Casa del Migrante in February on a tour of shelters on both sides of the border and a juvenile immigration court in El Paso.



Like many immigrant shelters, Casa del Migrante does not always have the food, clothes and other supplies to accommodate so many people in need, González said.



The children and families waiting for refuge in the U.S. often need medical care as well, and most are suffering from trauma.



“What is happening at the border is an acute mental health crisis,” Frymier said. “Our role is to provide children and families with a mental health intervention and trauma screening, and then provide a list of referrals of shelters and sites that can help out wherever they end up in the U.S.”





Las Cumbres is part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, which funds 100 trauma centers and has over 150 other affiliates around the country. The team members working through Santuario del Corazón are sharing information about the network’s centers with unaccompanied minors and families seeking asylum.



It will do the same at shelters near El Paso and Las Cruces that house recent immigrants.



“We’re trying to become as familiar with the immigration process as possible,” González said. “We want to make as many connections as we can with families and unaccompanied minors so that when they get to their destination, they know what services are there.”



In Northern New Mexico — with sites in Española, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Chama and Taos — Las Cumbres provides mental health care; home visiting for new parents; infant and toddler health and development screenings and therapy; other family interventions; and services for adults with developmental disabilities.



Frymier said the federal grant is allowing the nonprofit to better serve immigrants in these communities, as well as those waiting at the border, by gaining a wider understanding of the immigration process.



This week, the Las Cumbres team will return to the border through the Santuario del Corazón project, and it plans to do so every month until the grant runs out in September.



Monique Jacobson, the former Cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, is working as a consultant for Santuario del Corazón and joined the Las Cumbres team on the border excursion in February.



“When we go to border, we have an incredible opportunity to create relationships with shelters that can provide families with good referrals to get the treatment they need when they relocate,” Jacobson said.



“We’re trying to fill gaps by building a regional and statewide network of support,” she added. “We’re providing information that now enhances our whole country’s ability to serve these unaccompanied kids.”

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/ne...2bd061bef.html

Our own government facilitating and abetting the invaders and the invasion of our country.

Section 1324 of title 8 of the US code makes it a federal felony to encourage illegals to live in america. Why won't trump enforce that law?

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1324

Originally Posted by Text Driving Is Deadly

Section 1324 of title 8 of the US code makes it a federal felony to encourage illegals to live in america. Why won't trump enforce that law?

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1324

Simple answer---he is in cahoots with all those who are assisting the invasion. I don't have the answer for WHY he is, but it is obvious that he is!

EMBEZZLING our tax dollars and diverting those funds to harbor, aid and abet illegal aliens and that misappropriation of OUR money should be a Felony and this needs to stop!

Our tax dollars should be spent on our roads, bridges, schools, water, sewer and electrical systems. That is what we are paying taxes for, not to house, feed and give medical care and welfare to FOREIGN citizens who are invading our country.

Let their President take care of their needs.