Since October, it is estimated that approximately 57,000 Central American immigrant children have entered the United States. Reportedly, 80% are from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala and another 30,000 children are expected to emigrate from this same area over the next couple of months.
As mothers,we tend to feel sympathy for these children but there are a few pieces of information about immigration in America that can help us to keep this all in perspective. Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40) says, “The press needs to pay attention to what really matters: the girls and women who flee rape and assault in their home countries, and then face further rape, assault and trafficking as they make their way north to the United States border. The women and girls arriving in the United States right now have endured a string of terrors. The very least we can do is to preserve the American legal protections that give them a chance at fair treatment from our immigration system.” In case you need more, here are 19 immigration facts every Latina mom needs to know.
1. There’s no major public health risk from the recent wave of children emigrating from Central America.
Did someone scare you with stories about low vaccination rates in third world countries, saying that the immigrant children will infect us all? Despite what retired OBGYN, Phil Gingrey (R-GA), warned in a letter to the CDC, children from Central America are not actually carrying swine flue, Ebola, dengue fever or TB. What’s more, most of the children have been vaccinated and many of these countries have higher vaccination rates than America. Just in case, many immigrant children are given health screenings and any necessary treatment or vaccinations at the border.
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