Susan J. Terrio: Whose Child Am I?: Unaccompanied, Undocumented Children in US Immigration Custody

For years, thousands of young migrants south of the border have been shuffled through the United States’ shady juvenile detention system. In 2014, this system, which had evaded public scrutiny, had finally been exposed. Susan Terrio, a Professor of Anthropology at Georgetown University, gives an excellent analysis of the system, and provides real life testimonials from some of the unaccompanied and undocumented migrants in her book Whose Child Am I. For many young migrants who fled for fear of death and violence, fear of no future, or simply in search of identity, this journey of hope ends in a grave or behind bars in the states. For the ones behind bars, the journey is not over. The long and drawn-out fight for legal status ensues until granted status or more commonly not. For the many who are not granted legal status, a fear of deportation hangs over them and their families. Will a child’s journey end in a grave, legal status, or stripped from their families and deported back to a place they no longer call home? …