You may want to grab a box of tissues before continuing on. A 7-year-old little girl named Aimee was caught crossing the U.S. border from Mexico in search of her mother. When border security stopped the child, who was found in Texas, and asked where she was going she nervously replied, "The U.S."
Read more ¿Qué más?: Man goes to doctor with stomach pains, finds out he's a woman
The Honduran girl was traveling with a group of women for almost two weeks before they reached the Rio Grande. The trip is grueling enough for an adult–imagine a child. She didn't have any blood relatives with her, but the other women were protecting her during their journey. Once approached by guards, Aimee showed them a little crinkled piece of paper that had her mother's address in North Carolina. Thankfully, the federal Administration for Children and Families confirmed that Aimee was reunited with her mother.
Aimee's story is way more common than the masses want to realize. More than 57,000 kids were apprehended crossing the border without a parent or guardian since last October alone, according to NBC News. Last month, President Barack Obama held a press conference about the issue and declared that unaccompanied children crossing the border should be addressed as an "urgent humanitarian situation" that calls for a response.
I think we need more kids like Aimee to put a face to this horrific experience. Most of these children are sent to government facilities or temporary shelters instead of being reunited with their families. I know the border debate isn't a clean cut one, but if we learn anything from Aimee's story it is that this is a human issue and not just an immigration one.
Image via NBC News
