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Kenzie Stokes

Jackie Burr, Instructor

English 2010, Section 3

11 February 2019

An Open Letter to the Trump Administration

Dear Trump Administration,

I am writing this letter to you with much concern, after hearing about the child detention

centers you have set up at the US-Mexico border. I’ve done some extensive research on the

situation and I am very worried about the way the children are being treated. The children are

being kept in “jail like facilities” even though they only crossed the border to stay alive.

People from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico choose to send their children over

because they fear for their safety and lives. Back in 2009 there were 90 murders for every

100,000 people in Honduras (Martinez 7). They feel like the only way to save their children is to

send them to the Land of Opportunity, America. Back in their home countries the children are

facing many horrible thing like, gang violence, human trafficking, and rape. Parents sell all their

belongings and give all their money just to send their children across the border.

If families cross the border together patrol instantly separates the parents and the

children. In a TED Talk given by Tan Le, she speaks about about the many dangers her parents

feared when crossing the border when she was only seven, “All the adults knew the risks, the

greatest fear was of pirates, rape, and death.” Parents are sent to federal jails and the children are

sent to child detention centers run by you, the Trump Administration. One of the biggest

detention centers is located in an old Walmart Supercenter in Texas that houses nearly 150,000
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children. Before the children are granted access into these centers they are held at the border and

tested. They are vaccinated and tested for sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis and a few

more diseases that could be life-threatening. This is one of the few good things your detention

centers offer the children. Once they enter the detention center the first thing they see is a mural

of Trump with the American flag behind him. One of the children described the detention center

as a prison-like environment. The children either sleep on the ground with a thin blanket or if

they're lucky, a cot. You provide the children with little to nothing, especially when it comes to

clothing. The childrens clothing consists of a few shirts, underwear, a pair of pants, and a pair of

shoes. The kids are set on a routine schedule and are closely watched by guards. They attend

classes throughout the day and then go outside for about two hours of physical activities. The

healthcare you provide these children is barley anything. They are already living in horrible

conditions and if they happen to get sick there is a great possibility of them dying (Portman 12).

One reporter who entered this detention center stated that if anyone gets the chance to go inside

they should smile at the children because they feel like an animal in a cage. Once the children

legally become an adult they are taken away to federal jail to be detained, this usually happens

on their birthday.

These are just a few of the horrible situations that these children face in the detention

centers you have created for them. During the childrens stay at the detention center they must

face the Deportation Court. This court decides whether or not the child deserves to stay in

America or if they should be sent home to their country, making the whole journey pointless.

When in court the children can accept asylum claims. Claiming asylum means the children say
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their country is too dangerous to be sent back to. In the article ​No Way to Treat Children Fleeing

Danger ​it talks about children who won't take these asylum claims,

I heard from other unaccompanied children, as well as families, who made similar

decisions to forego asylum claims even when they thought they would face serious risks

on return. “I don’t want to return, but because of the time locked up here, I told myself

it’s better to return,” another 17-year-old boy told me, after describing a series of death

threats that had led him to flee (Bochenek 21).

When going into the hearing most of the children cannot afford a lawyer so they must defend

themselves. In Bocheneks article, it states that only 14% of the children receive lawyers. Kids as

young as 3-years-old are required to represent themselves in these deportation cases. In these

hearings children are asked to defend themselves even if they don´t know enough words to

respond. If a child is lucky enough to receive a lawyer their chances of staying in America are 10

times as likely compared to if they didn't.

Many American citizen, myself included, wish that you would do more to help these

children when they cross the border. They have no place to go and are completely helpless. The

only reason they crossed the border was to find a better and safer life in America and you are

making these children feel more fear than should be necessary. All they want is to find a safe

home free of violence and instead they are greeted by armed guards and are separated from their

families. I hope my letter to you has helped give you a small glimpse into the lives of these

helpless children and families, I hope you will change things for the better.
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Works Cited

Bochenek, Michael Garcia. “No Way to Treat Children Fleeing Danger.” ​Harvard

International Review​, vol. 38, no. 3, Summer 2017, pp. 18–23. ​EBSCOhost​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=123620522&site=ehost-live.

Le, Tan. “My Immigration Story.” ​TED, ​Feb, www.ted.com/talks/tan_le_my_immigration_story

Martínez, Óscar. “The Children Will Keep Coming.” ​Nation​, vol. 299, no. 7/8, Aug. 2014, pp.

12–16. ​EBSCOhost​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=97286714&site=ehost-live.

Portman, Honorable Rob. “The Pros of U.S. Policy Toward: Should the Federal Government Be

Doing More to Protect Unaccompanied Child Migrants?” ​Congressional Digest,​ vol. 97,

no. 6, June 2018, pp. 12–28. ​EBSCOhost​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=129786416&site=ehost-live.