ICE Discovers Unaccompanied Minors Are Excellent Bargaining Chips
The Intercept reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is trying to expedite removals of unaccompanied minors by offering them a $2,500 'relocation payment' to sign away their asylum claims. This policy, euphemized as 'voluntary repatriation,' completely sidesteps critical legal protections these children are entitled to under U.S. and international law. One might wonder if this
sum covers a plane ticket, or perhaps just softens the indignity of being outsourced. While Congress endlessly debates billions for border security theater, our humanitarian obligations are apparently worth less than a used car. The United States ratified the UN Convention Against Torture in 1994, which prohibits returning individuals to countries where they risk torture. Yet, ICE views child
migrants not as asylum seekers, but as inventory to be cleared, preferably on the cheap. How many 'voluntary' agreements are truly voluntary when coercion is the unspoken currency?