This article really shocked me. It may be short, but it was a big surprise when I read it and knew I had to do a reflection on it. The article began by saying that Texas was overwhelmed by thousands of immigrant children coming into the state, and they had no choice but to house them. They had to reduce to number of square feet for each child to stay in (I'm guessing because there were so many), and allowed more than one child to a sink, toilet, and shower. Texas even approved children to sleep on cots, but denied air mattresses.
If you don't know what a cot is, it's basically a beach chair or bench with what is almost like tent fabric that you can lay on. Most people use these when they go camping because they're portable, comfortable, and they're off the ground so no bugs crawl on you and/or you aren't sleeping on the cold hard ground. Cheap cots can range from $20-$60. I'm not sure why they denied air mattresses, though, because they can range at cheaper prices, from $20-$40.
The article continued to explain that, "More than 57,000 children entered the U.S. illegally between October and June without a parent or guardian." This is what shocked me the most. I never knew so many children could cross the border by themselves without getting caught! Reading the article also made me think of the memoir The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande. On pages 147-149, Reyna's father was going back to the US. He was planning to take her brother and sister, but not Reyna. She was sad and begged and begged to go across the border with them. Eventually, her father said yes, but I wonder what would have happened if he didn't? Would she sneak across like all those thousands of kids?
I know the article is short, but if you still want to read it click here.
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