Four children from El Salvador who were granted refugee status through the U.S. Central American Minors program were held in detention at Miami International Airport January 30, 2017 after being told by U.S. government officials that they needed waivers to enter the United States as a result of President Trump’s recent executive order on refugees.
The children, ages 15 – 17 years old, had landed in Miami from El Salvador, passed through Customs and Border Protection screening, and were on their way to their connecting flight to elsewhere in the U.S. when they were pulled into secondary inspection and held. After being held for six hours, waivers were granted and the children released from custody. They missed their original flights, but were just able to make the last flight of the day to their destinations.
“This is a perfect example of how children in need of safety—and who have been thoroughly vetted under security procedures and approved for U.S. protection—are being harmed by President Trump’s sweeping executive order,” said KIND President Wendy Young. “We are further endangering children who have already proved that their lives are at grave risk in their home country. Their resettlement to the U.S. is in keeping with our national values and history as a nation that shelters those in need.”
KIND applauds the “SOLVE Act” , introduced January 30, 2017 by Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Representative John Conyers (D-MI), joined by 179 House Democrats, which blocks and defunds President Trump’s executive order that bans travelers from seven majority Muslim countries and temporarily halts the U.S refugee program.
The bill states that the Executive Order, ‘‘Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,’’ issued on January 27, 2017, shall have no force or effect and prohibits the use of Federal funds to enforce the Executive Order.
Click here to read the bill and for a listing of co-sponsors.