HOUSTON – While the flood of immigrant children from Central American has slowed in recent months, more than 60,000 were caught illegally crossing the border since last October. Thousands of those children and their families have settled in Harris County, and federal law mandates they be provided an education while waiting to learn whether they will be sent back to their home countries or allowed to stay in the United States.
The Houston Independent School District's Las Americas Newcomer School is one such campus providing immigrant children with an education. The school caters to children from more than 30 countries around the world
who speak little to no English and have been in the U.S. less than two years.
Campus principal Marie Moreno gave Local 2 Investigates a tour of the campus. Moreno said Las Americas typically begins the school year with 170 students, but the recent surge of Central American children caught
crossing the border caused that number to swell to 325 at the beginning of this school year. That is the maximum number of children the school can accommodate.
"They all need an education, they all need to learn English, they all need to learn how to survive here," said Moreno. "Here we expect our kids to be college and career-ready, we want our kids to be well-prepared for high school and graduate from high school."
Moreno said Las Americas' main goal is to prepare immigrant children for enrollment in mainstream junior high and high schools. Moreno said federal law prohibits immigrant from being kept separate from mainstream
classes for longer than two school years.
That mission is seen the school's mascot, RHINOs, which is an acronym for Really Hungry Individuals In Need of Opportunity. Many of the school's programs are supported by the non-profit organization Partnership for the Advancement and Immersion of Refugees, or PAIR.
"I have better opportunities here to study, I'm not afraid to go outside an be a kid," said Eduardo Fernandez.
Fernandez, 14, is a student at Las Americas. He was caught crossing the Texas border in June. Fernandez said he became separated from his mother in Guadalajara so made the trek to Texas alone.
After being shuttled to three detention centers, Fernandez was finally reunited with his family in Houston before being enrolled in school. Fernandez said his family was fleeing gang violence in Honduras.
"I was threatened a lot, if I didn't do what the gangs told me to do something bad would happen," said Fernandez. "I don't want to go back to that hell."
Fernandez and his family are still awaiting an immigration hearing to determine whether they will be allowed to stay in the United States. According to data collected by Syracuse University through its Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse program, the average wait time for an immigration hearing in Texas is 433 days.
However, under presidential directive, the federal Executive Office For Immigration Review is working to fast track cases like Fernandez to ease a growing backlog that was further burdened by the surge of children
caught crossing the border over the last year.
"I can't miss a court date because I could be deported," said Fernandez.
Moreno, who left a high paying job in the energy industry to follow her passion into education, said politics and immigration status matter little when it comes to the school's mission.
"We have a lot of students waiting to get court dates assigned to them," said Moreno. "We can't just sit there and wait and do nothing. If we're not here to provide for them and help them, then what are we doing?"
The children at Las Americas get more than an education. Students have access to counseling and health care through Memorial Hermann. Moreno also makes sure the children and their families have proper clothing.
Moreno began the "Closet of Hope" during one Winter when students showed up in bathrobes because they had no jackets. The "Closet" exists largely on donations of clothes from the community.
"Many of our families left their countries with little or nothing," said Moreno. "It's a place where families can come to find clothing for not only the children that attend our school, but the entire family."
In addition to hot meals at school, Moreno also pays out of her own pocket to make sure her students have food at home.
"I pick up extra boxes of cereal, rice, beans maybe some extra loaves of bread and so I bring that to school and the next day we make sure those go out to families," said Moreno.
Congress will not make a decision on extra to help care for unaccompanied children caught illegally crossing the border until after the election. President Barack Obama said he is also delaying taking executive action on our immigration system as a whole, which has the potential to affect many of these recent cases, until after the election.