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I attended one of the panel discussions during the Migrants, Justice, and the Border week at ASU West. The discussion was very informative. Shui Ming Cheer spoke briefly about the children's detention center for illegal immigrants in Florence. I was surprised to learn that children from Central America as young as eight attempt to cross the border alone in an effort to reunify with their parents who left them behind during civil wars. The young migrants, from countries like Guatemala, have to travel by any means possible to get first to Mexico which includes traveling on the top of fast moving trains. These children risk their lives and it's a shame that they have to experience this horrible journey. If these undocumented children are caught in the United States, they are sent to detention centers. I was acquainted with these detention centers while reading Crossing the Boulevard. Bovic, an illegal immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was locked up for two years in one of these prison like detention centers. There should be another alternative to treating these people as though they are dangerous criminals. The representative from the Phoenix Police Department also shared with us some startling information. If I understood him correctly, the statistics show that 50% of their resources are used to deal with issues concerning immigration such as smuggling, kidnapping, etc. He went on to inform the audience that in 2003, the robbery unit had 3,000 hours of overtime because of problems caused by illegal immigration. I think these statistics go to show that the immigration policy needs to be reformed. The screening of the film "The Gatekeeper" was a fantastic event and I feel more people around the country should see the film in order to gain a greater understanding of the dangers associated with crossing the border. This film gives the viewer more insight as to what migrants from Mexico experience when crossing the border as well as some of difficulties they experience once they arrive in the United States. I'm glad director John Carlos Frey didn't change the storyline in order to accommodate Hollywood producers, which as he explained they pressured him to do.
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