On June 19, 2019, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen reported at a press conference that 10,000 unaccompanied children had been taken illegally across the U.S. border by people who are not their parents or family. This astounding statement has received limited attention by the U.S. media and immigrant rights activists, but it is an astounding statement of the state of children’s human rights.  Ms. Nielsen stated that 10,000 such children “were sent by their parents with strangers to undertake a completely dangerous and deadly travel alone.”

Responsible for Equality And Liberty and certainly all human rights supporters and fellow human beings should be deeply concerned about the state of these (and other children) who have been detained during illegal border crossings. We hope to obtain additional information on these children and their status. According to American law, based on the “Flores” settlement in a 1997 lawsuit, children must be released within 20 days. But the human rights questions will remain, where will such thousands of “unaccompanied alien children” (UAC) go, and what are the consequences for the many parents who would leave their children in such strangers’ care in such a dangerous situation?

There remains a grave threat of human trafficking and sexual trafficking of such children. Among the many concerns of human rights supporters, we should have a serious concern about how this will be prevented for these thousands of children?