Families plead for release of their loved ones. Photo credit: Alerta Migratoria NC. Used with permission
Despite entreaties by teachers, parents, activists and even the mayor of North Carolina's largest city, the US. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its policing arm, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have not yet backed down from arresting immigrant high school students on their way to school.
The high schoolers were part of the wave of Central American children who applied for asylum at the US-Mexican border in 2014, and have increasingly faced arrest by federal authorities in the US. With gang violence and crime rates soaring in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, many young people fled those countries, including a large number of unaccompanied minors, and sought refuge in the United States. Seven teens who managed to rejoin their families in North Carolina had their hopes dashed when their asylum claims were rejected.
