Bishop sees need to expand foster care for young border crossers

Published: 2006-11-08

EL PASO, Texas (CNS) -- The youngest undocumented immigrants caught trying to enter the United States from Mexico through El Paso may benefit from a recent fact-finding trip along the border for a delegation of bishops and others involved in ministry to migrants in the U.S. and Mexico. El Paso Bishop Armando X. Ochoa said he wanted to expand diocesan-run foster-care programs that shelter children and teenagers who are emotionally and physically traumatized during their journey north. Compared to more institutional settings, the smaller groups and family atmosphere in foster homes enhance the healing process, he said during an Oct. 28 press conference at the Padre Pinto Plaza outside Sacred Heart Church, just blocks from the international bridge to Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. "These kids have been treated badly," Bishop Ochoa said. "They've seen horrors from snakes in the desert to being abandoned by their coyote (smuggler). Some girls get gang-raped."

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