Advocates say Obama should visit migrant children at the border

Advocates say they would like President Barack Obama to visit the Southwest border so he can have a firsthand look at the holding cells where hundreds of unaccompanied minors are being held.

Obama had a chance to visit the border when he was in Texas this week, but chose not to. Instead, he met with faith leaders, local elected officials and Republican Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday to address the surge of children and families crossing the border.

Following the meeting, the president defended his decision not to visit the Texas-Mexico border, saying “there’s nothing that is taking place down there that I am not intimately aware of and briefed on.”

“This isn’t theater. This is a problem,” Obama said, referring to the influx of unaccompanied minors crossing the border. “I’m not interested in photo ops. I’m interested in solving a problem. And those who say I should visit the border, when you ask them what should we be doing, they’re giving us suggestions that are embodied in legislation that I’ve already sent to Congress.”

SEE ALSO: Obama seeks $3.7 billion to address unaccompanied minors crisis

He was referring to the $3.7 billion in emergency funding that he’s asking Congress to approve to address the wave of children coming to the United States from Central America without a parent or guardian. More than 52,000 unaccompanied children have attempted to cross the Southwest border since October.

Still, some advocates say it would be helpful for Obama to visit the migrant children being held at the border.

Advocates say Obama should visit unaccompanied minors

Greg Chen, director of advocacy for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday that he believes the Obama administration is “dedicating a lot of attention” to the situation. However, he insisted that he would still like Obama to visit some of the facilities where unaccompanied minors are being housed.

He also noted that attorneys from his organization who work with unaccompanied minors are often shocked by the “inadequate” conditions the children are housed in at some of the facilities.

“It changes everybody’s perspective on the situation,” he said. “There’s no question that anybody who’s trying to make a decision about this would benefit from seeing that.”

Michelle Brane, director of the Migrant Rights & Justice Program for the Women’s Refugee Commission, had a similar opinion. She said, “I think it would’ve been nice for [Obama] to see and speak to some of these children and some of these mothers with children to find out firsthand why they’re coming.”

This photo shows the inside of a facility in Nogales, Ariz., housing unaccompanied minors. (Photo courtesy of The Jon Justice Show KQTH Tucson)

SEE ALSO: Campaign discourages children from crossing the border, will it work?

During a conference call with reporters on Thursday, several faith leaders spoke about some of the conditions Obama would see if he were to visit some of the facilities housing unaccompanied minors.

Joining them was Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who spoke about what she saw when she and several other members of Congress visited two facilities in Texas last week.

“What I saw was deeply troubling,” Lofgren said. “I saw many, many young children crowded in jail-like holding cells, including toddlers — some in diapers.”

She added that some of the children were sleeping on cement floors, covered with blankets. She also recalled meeting a 3-year-old girl who was not accompanied by a parent or guardian and was being cared for by three older girls.

But the biggest problem, Lofgren said, was seeing that the children are not entitled to a lawyer to help them with their cases.

“It’s hard to see how a 5 or 6-year-old child could actually receive due process if they were in an immigration proceeding without the benefit of a lawyer,” she said.

Bishop Minerva Carcaño of the United Methodist Church in Los Angeles and other faith leaders who were on the call shared the same concern. Carcaño toured the Naval Base Ventura County in California where 575 unaccompanied minors between the ages of 13 and 17 are being held.

Caraña said though the children seemed happy and were housed in fairly good conditions, she feared they were not being provided with legal representation, therefore, running the risk of being deported without due process.

“If these children are returned to life-jeopardizing circumstances, their possible early deaths will be on our conscious,” she said. “These are children and as people of justice and faith, we cannot just turn a blind eye or turn them away.”

Caraña joined the other faith leaders and Lofgren in calling on the Obama administration and Congress “to do the right thing by providing funding for the care and due process of these migrant children.”

SEE ALSO: Advocates fear unaccompanied minors lack immigration attorneys