Fortunately, there are growing voices of reason and compassion who are demanding solutions with a focus on the best interests of the children. For example, Lupillo Rivera stopped at the Murrieta rally and brought a voice of reason to the situation as he said, It doesnt matter where a child is from. He deserves respect and help because hes a child. This is also much of our history that should be instructive. In fact, the very first immigrant to arrive at the immigration station at Ellis Island was Annie Moore, a 15 year-old unaccompanied child from Ireland, on January 1, 1892. According to Barry Moreno, a librarian at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, the Immigration Act of 1907 set up a system in which unaccompanied children, including orphans, were allowed hearings whereby local missionaries, synagogues, immigrant aid societies, and private citizens would often step in and offer to take guardianship of the child. Many of these children became very successful contributors to the growth of America. As Tasneem Raja of Mother Jones writes, And of course, many of those kids grew up to work tough jobs, start new businesses and create new jobs, and pass significant amounts of wealth down to some of the very folks clamoring to send em back today. Also, between 1960 and 1962, the American government went out of its way to help Cuban children come to the United States through a program known as Operation Pedro Pan. This initiative, supported by the Department of State, which granted the visa waivers, the CIA in Cuba, and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in the U.S., and through the support of Father Bryan O. Walsh and the Catholic Welfare Bureau, airlifted more than 14,000 Cuban children out of Havana to the United States whose parents did not want them to live under the rule of Fidel Castro. As the Miami Herald described it, Parents of all religious creeds...put their trust in the secret program started by Catholic Charities that brought 14,048 children to the United States in less than two years before it had to shut down in October 1962. It was parents most painful sacrifice -- to be separated from their kids to save them.... Oscar Pichardo, who came to this country from Cuba when he was 10 years old, says, You had to live the stark reality that our parents faced and led them to make the hard decisions born out of love and courage to protect their children. When it came time to decide to either submit to the state or send the children to safety, Cuban parents chose freedom for their children -- sending them unaccompanied to the United States....
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 14:39:37 +0000
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