KBI Media Report: April/May 2018

Our report includes recent news about immigrant children separated from their parents, coverage of the Refugee Caravan as participants arrive at the border, and a photo/video essay on the issues and implications of building a border wall.

• Separated Parents and Children at the Border: After the separation of hundreds of undocumented immigrants from their children and a pending American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit on behalf of a Congolese mother separated from her 7-year-old daughter, the Department of Homeland Security has announced it will refer all undocumented entrants to the U.S. for federal prosecution. This policy has harrowing implications for individuals traveling with children. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions warned, “If you don’t want your child to be separated. then don’t bring them across the border illegally.” Read more about this unduly cruel and unwarranted immigration policy here: https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/07/politics/illegal-immigration-border-prosecutions-families-separated/index.html.
• The Refugee Caravan: As the families with children in the Pueblo Sin Fronteras Refugee Caravan arrive at the U.S.­–Mexico border from Central America, this PBS News Hour piece (with video and transcript) reports on the extreme violence they are fleeing, the hardline stance of the Department of Homeland Security, and the hopes and fears of those who have risked everything for protection and safety: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/i-didnt-come-here-to-cross-illegally-i-came-here-for-help.
• The Border Wall: As discussions about building a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico repeatedly arise in public discourse and around dinner tables, this special, Pulitzer-Prize-winning report documents in word, image and video the related issues, harmful effects, and various perspectives on a proposal that would be prohibitively expensive, ineffective, and damaging to individuals and border communities: https://www.usatoday.com/border-wall/. Migrants who received support at KBI’s comedor are profiled in one of the articles.