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The United States lags behind other countries in preventing the detention of immigrant children, providing them with legal protection, and offering them access to health care and education , according to a study published by the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) .
According to the research of the Center for Policy Analysis (WORLD) at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health , the United States does not have legislation that specifically limits the detention of accompanied immigrant children and asylum seekers.
According to the study, the United States does not offer minimal legal protection to minors either no accompanied and for children who are detained; in addition to not having legal guarantees of access to adequate medical care or education.
THREAD: In addition to our global findings, today we also released a policy brief on the detention of child migrants in the US, which detained> 15, 000 unaccompanied minors in 2019 alone: https://t.co/rZeLVafB7r # humanrights (1/7)
– WORLD (@WPolicyCenter) July 14, 2021
“The United States lags behind when it comes to protecting the most fundamental rights of immigrant children,” said the Jody Heymann, director of WORLD and professor of health UCLA Public Policy, Public Policy and Medicine.
“The child detention crisis did not start or be resolved with a single administration, and those Long-standing loopholes in the law have left countless children vulnerable to serious health risks and human rights violations. ”
They ask the United States to set the level of other countries in protecting migrant children
The director of WORLD mentioned that it is essential to adopt legal protections that provide the kinds of effective alternatives to detention modeled elsewhere to bring America to the level of other nations and ensure that children can no longer be detained or denied access to health and education simply because of their immigration status .
Heymann is the lead author of the study “ Prevenció n of the Detention of minors for migration reasons. Comparative study of laws in 150 countries ”, published in the July issue of the International Journal of Human Rights.
The research systematically codified the restrictions legal measures to the detention of immigrant children in the 150 United States, as well as writings on the cost-benefit of the different approaches to keep the little ones safe and under responsible supervision.
The team research found that less than a quarter of countries legally protect unaccompanied asylum seekers , and only the 11% does it in the case of accompanied immigrant minors.
The results of the study indicate that, among the countries that allow immigration detention, fewer d e half consider basic points, such as family unity, access to education and medical care.
Read more : Biden Administration opens an emergency center to house migrant minors at the border .