It has been said the crooks will always find creeks to enter any system in the world. And when the system is welcoming and benevolent, the infiltration is much easier. Special Immigrant Juvenile Status law (Please read the article below by eminent attorney Anand Ahuja on page 6) was enacted with a humanitarian objective to provide protection to those minors who are victims of domestic abuse. Over the years, the law stands abused. It has become a booming business in many countries to push young boys and girls, mainly boys (77%), in to the United States territory and make them take advantage of SIJS.

The Indian Panorama Investigative team came across quite a few people in Queens and Long Island in New York who are part of the thriving racket to smuggle in young boys and girls from India. The reports received by us indicate that it is a big business in many South Asian countries, in particular, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan as also in many other countries across the world. We were taken for a shock to get to know how elaborate the racket’s dragnet is, which involves agents in countries from which the young people are sent, agents at the Mexican side of the US border who help them cross over in to the United States, agents in the US who manage a guardian for the boy/girl and so on so forth. All this involves huge money. In India, the price to send a young boy or a girl in to USA is anywhere between $80,000 to $100,000.

Another shocking revelation was the involvement of church in this racket. During our talk with some who are involved in the racket told us, on condition of anonymity, that at least, one    priest from a Christian Church in New York and a Sikh priest from a Sikh Gurudwara in Arizona are actively involved in running the racket. The authorities do not suspect the priests of any wrong doing and the latter take advantage of it. Our source told us that the Christian Priest who is based in New York and comes from Punjab, India, visits his home state in India to “recruit” the youth who want to come to USA. It was pointed out to us that the pries has been making regular trips for the job. He arranges the incoming youth’s stay and finds him a guardian. Interestingly, all the young people who come here and come to have guardians, work and stay elsewhere, not necessarily with their guardians. The person agreeing to be a guardian to a youth is offered a payment of between $5000.00 to$10,000. The attorney’s fees is anywhere between $3000.00 and $5000.00. We were also told about two attorneys whose services the priest utilizes regularly. Also, there are some attorneys who specialize in such cases. The gentleman who offered to be guardian to a young man confided in us that the young man had disappeared and that he had to report the disappearance to the court.

The malaise is much deeper and goes beyond simple monetary racket. It has serious implications for America’s security. With ISIS and Al Qaeda stepping up recruitment of young people from all over the world, USA is threatened as never before because of such soft laws  which allow easy infiltration in to the country. Our source, on condition of anonymity, told us that he had come to know that the enemies of USA are all set to push in young people in to USA to carry out their agenda in America, which is to harm the country in every way.

A thorough investigation by the US administration  agencies concerned in to the racket and  the possible infiltration of enemies of USA in to the country, taking advantage of the benevolent soft humanitarian laws needs to be  done sooner than later. And the earlier, the better.

(National Juvenile Justice Network)  (The Pew Charitable Trusts: May 9, 2013)

Hundreds of thousands of youth (under age 18) attempt to enter the U.S. every year. Some come with their families, others alone, either of their own will seeking jobs, protection and family reunification or they are smuggled into the country for sweatshop labor or sexual exploitation. The exact number of children who attempt to enter the country is unknown. In 2005 granted legal permanent resident (LPR) status to 175,000 children under 14 years of age and to 196,000 youth ages 15 to 24. Twenty thousand youth ages 17 and under were accepted as refugees and 2,000 were granted asylum in the same year. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) apprehended almost 122,000 juveniles in the U.S. in 2004. Of this total, 84.6 percent were released back to Mexico, or in rare cases to Canada.

(The Migrationist: August 8, 2013)

Each year, thousands of unaccompanied alien children
(UACs) risk harrowing journeys and travel alone to seek refuge in the United States. These children come from all over the world for many reasons, including to escape persecution in their home countries, to reunify with family members and to look for a better life. In recent years, the U.S. government has had roughly 6,000-8,000 of these children in its care and custody each year. While these children may be as young as infants, most (approximately 70 percent) have been between the ages of 15 and 17. -Women’s Refugee Commission