Informative Report Draft

Description: The purpose of writing a report is to inform the readers about a particular topic or an event to deepen their understanding of the subject matter. This type of writing calls for careful research even if you are very familiar with the discussion topic you selected. You are expected to master your subject to be able to throughly report on it and ultimately teach it to your audience. 

Where are my parents? A question thousands of children may be asking to the security guards keeping them separated from their families. Children of all ages cross the border with their parents in hope of a new and better life. Whether it be for financial reasons, warfare, or bad living conditions, these families are seeking a better world from which they came from. Instead, they are being torn from their children, even infants, as they cross the border and are forced to give their children to federal border security.

One particular story is of a young woman, Mirian, that crosses the border with her 18-month old son, escaping warfare in her home country of Honduras (Dickerson, 2018, p. 1). On February 20, 2018, the political violence had become too much in Honduras and Mirian arrived at the Texas border with Mexico (Dickerson, 2018, p. 1). As she crossed the border of Mexico into Texas, federal agents caught her and her child, then ordering her to place her baby in the government car and they drove away leaving her behind (Dickerson, 2018, p. 1). This was one story of the many that were happening with families crossing into the United States.

The Trump administration brought upon rigid rules as a way to possibly prevent illegal immigration into the country. As stated by Dickerson, “...the Trump administration has in the past said it was considering taking children from their parents as a way to deter migrants from coming here” (Dickerson, 2018, p. 1). This suggests reasoning for what happened to Mirian along with the hundreds of other families that have been crossing the border. Over 700 children were taken from their parents at the border, in which over one hundred were under four years old (Dickerson, 2018, p. 2). Reports were denied by members of Homeland Security, however officials that worked as part of the detainment of the children later confirmed the number was “around 700” (Dickerson, 2018, p. 2). There are no official statistics as to how high the number of detained children are, but newer resources confirm that the numbers are higher.

As stated before, Homeland Security does not confirm estimated statistics as to just how many children have been separated from their families as they crossed the border. As the detainments increased, the severity of these cases also increased, especially with the death of a child while in U.S. custody. On December 6, 2018, Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin died at U.S. border patrol (Chalabi, 2018, p. 1). Jakelin was a seven year old girl from Guatemala that had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with her father to escape poverty (Chalabi, 2018, p. 1). Border security released tha Jakelin had died of dehydration and shock from the separation of her family and her father (Chalabi, 2018, p. 1). This is yet another story of a child taken from her family, and in this case, the extreme happened in which the child passed away.

ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has nine facilities to keep children detained (Chalabi, 2018, p. 1). The length of stay of these children can drastically range. A typical time of stay is between one hundred to two hundred and forty days in detainment (Chalabi, 2018, p. 1). However, if no one legal in the U.S. related to the child is found then the time of detainment can be indefinite and undetermined. As of September of 2018, the most recent released amount of missing children that were detained was close to 1,500, however no records had been updated up until that time. However soon after, the New York Times got an updated estimate that put the number close to 15,000 children taken away from their family and stripped of contact with those they knew. From only April of 2018 to late June of 2018, around 2,600 children had already been removed from their parents once they crossed the border (Anthropology Today, 2018, p. 1). These children escaping poverty were being subjected to worse living conditions that led to further detriment.

Reference Page

Chalabi, M. (2018, December 22). How many migrant children are detained in US custody? Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2018/dec/22/migrant-children-us-custody

Dickerson, C. (2018, April 21). Hundreds of Immigrant Children Have Been Taken From Parents at U.S. Border. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/us/immigrant-children-separation-ice.html

Front and Back Covers, Volume 34, Number 5. October 2018. (2018). Anthropology Today, 34(5), I-ii.