Opinion: Protect alien children

Unaccompanied children arrive on our shores for a variety of reasons. Some are hoping to escape grinding poverty in their homelands. Others are brought in by smugglers looking to use children as indentured servants. Others are seeking safety from genocidal wars, forced conscription in the military or inhumane customs such as genital mutilation. For whatever reason they come, nearly 5,000 do so every year, and our government is ill-equipped to handle the influx.

Due to the lack of placement options, unaccompanied minors often end up in juvenile detention facilities, locked up with violent teens. They can be held for months before their asylum claims are adjudicated. When they finally have their scheduled hearings, upward of 80 percent go unrepresented. Two years ago, an 18-month-old girl was brought to a hearing in which she had no lawyer or guardian there to represent her interests.

In recent congressional hearings, 15-year-old Edwin Munoz described how he was abandoned to the streets in Honduras and finally made his way to the United States two years ago. After being picked up by the INS, Munoz was moved around various detention facilities and juvenile jails for six months until an attorney volunteered to help him seek asylum.

Some children have faced even more harrowing experiences in their homelands, but our system merely adds to their trauma.

A bill proposed by Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., and co-sponsored by Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., would set up a Office of Children's Services to address the problems raised by unaccompanied minors. The office would be run by the Justice Department, not the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and it would coordinate care for alien children arriving in the United States without parents or adult guardians. In addition to moving these children into settings more like foster care than jail, Feinstein's proposal would provide each child with legal representation and a guardian ad litem to be appointed within 72 hours of arrival. An adult, other than an INS worker or jailer, would be looking out for each child, evaluating his or her living situation and keeping tabs on the progress of any legal claims.

We have an obligation to help children who arrive without any adult to care for them, who often don't speak English. While the care our government provides these young charges should be humane and compassionate, the current system keeps alien children uninformed of their status, exposes them to violent teens and does little to ensure a fair hearing on their claims. It is time for a major overhaul of the sort Feinstein suggests.

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