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Becoming American: This unaccompanied minor nearly drowned coming to the US. Now he has a new life in Florida
Rick Jervis and Jasper Colt, USA TODAY
Published
12:51 pm UTC Apr. 16, 2021
Rick Jervis and Jasper Colt, USA TODAY
Published
12:51 pm UTC Apr. 16, 2021
The water was cool and dark and swirled around Francis Portillo as he waded into the Rio Grande.
Portillo, then 14 and all alone, felt the water rising to his chest, to his shoulders, to his chin. He began paddling to the other bank and made it more than halfway across, the United States and all its promises just a few feet away.
Unaccompanied minors: US border journey can be deadly for immigrants usatoday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from usatoday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
to refugee status. it s few and far between but we have the process. where some children don t have anybody to go to or the families were killed or murdered in different, tragic situations. hopefully you can speak to the children, a couple of the children today you will see that. that there is not hope to them to go back to a country they are leaving. we have a variety on the spectrum. we have kids that come in custody and reunified quickly if everything is in order. then we have some children that will unfortunately and fortunately stay within the system for a number of years until they canfy for refugee status and move on to the other sister program, the unaccompanied refugee minor program. so are the children, most of them come here alone without parents? yes, ma am. majority of the children are