Immigration

Some perspective on the size of the surge of refugee children

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The far-right refers to the surge in unaccompanied refugee children from Central America as a “wave” and an “invasion.” Their political cartoonists, like Mike Ramirez from Investors Business Daily use gross distortion to propagate irrational fear.

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Mother Jones recently reported, 70,000 Kids Will Show Up Alone at Our Border This Year. What Happens to Them?:

[Adrián] became one of the 38,833 unaccompanied minors apprehended by the Border Patrol in fiscal year 2013. That was a 59 percent jump from the year before, and a 142 percent increase from fiscal 2011; no one knows how many more kids avoided Border Patrol detection, or never got that far. This year, officials have told advocates they anticipate the numbers to double again, to as many as 74,000 unaccompanied children.

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What would make Arizona Republicans eager to raise their own taxes?

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com Terrorizing brown people, of course! HighGround, the firm owned by Chuck Coughlin (Arizona’s true Governor) which represents GOP candidate Scott Smith, released a poll of the upcoming primary. The results for Governor track with other recent polls showing Doug Ducey and Christine Jones vying for the lead but still a lot of … Read more

Wingnut plans protest of child refugees in Oracle

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The City of Tucson and its community organizations and leaders have been one of the bright spots in the recent surge of child refugees from Central America. Tucson is definitely not the FAUX News stage prop of Murietta, California. Not so our unruly neighbors to the North in Pinal County.

I was only able to half listen to this KVOA-4 report last Friday because of a noisy household, so I missed this. Possible new child migrant shelter coming to Oracle:

RefugeeChildrenNearly 280 migrant children are already staying at a Tucson shelter; now another location could be coming to Oracle, several miles into the Catalina Mountains, behind a campground along Mt. Lemmon Highway.

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Beyond the campsite is a gate, concealing the Sycamore Canyon Academy. The facility is run by ‘Rite of Passage,’ a Nevada based group that works with at-risk youth.

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Department recently got word 40 to 50 migrant children could soon be staying here.

“There are major concerns from a public safety perspective about that,” said Sheriff Paul Babeu.

Some of the folks who live nearby, like Robert Skiba, aren’t too happy about it either . . . Skiba plans on organizing an effort to protest the plan.

Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times follows up on this story today. Paul Babeu Supporter Organizing Murrietta-Style Protest in Oracle, Says Babeu Tipped Him Off:

A longtime supporter of Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu says the sheriff tipped him off that 40 to 50 migrant kids would soon be placed in his community.

Oracle resident Robert Skiba believes that the minors will be bused by federal authorities to the Sycamore Canyon Academy on Tuesday.

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Arizona Rednecks Plan Murrieta-Style Ugly American Protest in Oracle, AZ

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statue of liberty5 UPDATEs at the end.

Two Oracle facilities may be sheltering unaccompanied migrant children soon– one in midtown Tucson at Oracle and Drachman and one tucked into the Catalina Mountains in Oracle, Arizona.

While liberals in Tucson are welcoming the children and touting the 250 jobs the migrant shelter and processing center will bring to a struggling part of the city, rednecks north of town are planning a Murrieta-style ugly American protest to greet 40 children who could be housed at the Sycamore Canyon Academy on the back side of Mountain Lemmon. (KVOA story here.)

You’ll remember that several days ago Murrieta, California made headlines when the mayor called for citizens to show their outrage against migrants coming to their town, and the citizens did just that– protesting and blocking the road, with the assistance of local police.

Now the ugly Americans want to stage a repeat in sleepy Oracle, Arizona.

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UN, Progressives Urge Refugee Status for Migrant Children, while GOP Wants Speedy Deportation

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UN Report on refugee children fleeing Central America
UN Report on refugee children fleeing Central America

The least productive Congress ever was perfectly content to allow immigration reform to languish until next year, while they focused on getting their sorry asses re-elected. But then reality hit.

Mass migration of unaccompanied children from Central America brought the issue front and center. A little-known. bipartisan bill passed in the waning hours of the Bush Administration to protect children from sex trafficking is standing in the way of speedy deportation of 1000s of children, according to the New York Times.

While they languish in detention centers in Texas, Arizona, and California, more women and children cross the border — fleeing violence in their homeland and looking for family in the US.

Many powerful forces are at work to determine their fate…

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