When he was brought to the juvenile immigrants’ shelter near Phoenix a few weeks ago, Jose was still bleeding from his suicide attempt.
He’d spent weeks in an adult jail, vainly trying to convince immigration officials that he was only 17 and didn’t belong there. Officials didn’t act until he took a disposable razor and slashed his wrists.
Attorney Aryah Somers was one of the first people to talk to Jose when he came to the juvenile shelter.
“He said, ‘Get me out of here. I just want to be out,’ ” Somers recalled in a phone interview.
Somers refused to give Jose’s full name because his identity is confidential.
But she said he is just one example of a child who is victimized by America’s immigration bureaucracy.
“We have dozens and dozens of cases where kids spend a week or two in adult custody,” Somers said. “They say, ‘I don’t know why they kept me.’ ”
Stories like Jose’s will become more public as the Democratic Congress considers legislation that would require unaccompanied minors to be handed over to the Department of Health and Human Services within 72 hours.
“The immigration system can be very frightening and bewildering,” said U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.
Lofgren chairs the immigration subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. She said she will introduce the legislation next month because it’s desperately needed for children like Jose.
“We’re not affecting in any way the adjudication of their immigration matter,” Lofgren said. “That’s really for the immigration courts to decide. We are saying that they should be kept safe while their matters are being decided.”
Whatever happens to the legislation, it is probably too late for Jose.
Last week, he ran away from the Phoenix juvenile shelter, Somers said. He was last seen wearing sneakers, blue jeans and a T-shirt with long white sleeves that covered his bandaged wrists.
Anyone with information on the immigration system can call 202-459-4956.
