Central America: child migrant "crisis" vanishes | World War 4 Report

15.10.14

Central America: child migrant "crisis" vanishes | World War 4 Report: The administration first floated the idea of in-country refugee applications for Central Americans in July. Bill Frelick, the director of the refugee program for the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) organization, responded in August that "there is little reason for confidence that an in-country processing program would serve the protection needs of the most vulnerable people in the most imminent danger of serious harm." He noted the experience with such a program in Haiti in the early 1990s. "By May 1994, 54,219 had filed applications, representing nearly 106,000 people; only 10,644 cases had been decided, and only 7.7%t of those cases were approved. On Aug. 1, 1994, Haitian police and paramilitary forces attacked a line of applicants waiting for refugee processing, beating and arresting a number of them." (Politico.com, Aug. 13)