To the Editor:
Re “Child Migrants Waiting for U.S. to Honor Vow” (front page, Nov. 6):
Children in Central America facing grave harm from pervasive violence need a timely and effective way to gain safety, which the Central American Minors program has yet to provide. The dangerously slow process has another deep flaw: the lack of recognition of gang-related violence as a form of persecution.
Only 10 of 90 children were granted refugee status, a staggeringly low number when thousands of children who come to the United States report threats to their lives and safety from which their governments fail to protect them.
The United States continues to deny the reality that many of the thousands of children fleeing alone to this country are refugees, and qualify, as do those who remain in their countries, for international protection.
We must recognize the life-threatening persecution these children face, and create a way that they can find temporary safety in a nearby country while their application for protection is processed in a timely fashion.
WENDY YOUNG
President
Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
Washington