Nabbed at the border while trying to cross into the country, the youths were sent to Dalton by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services while they wait for a date with a federal immigration judge. In the meantime, the youths are required, by law, to be admitted into a local school system. The immunizations necessary for enrollment, and all pertinent paperwork, were provided to the youths during their time in facilities in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
“The children that have come to us have trickled in over the previous year,” said Caroline Woodason, assistant director for Student Support for Dalton Public Schools. “They have family or some semblance of family here, with whom they are housed. That is why they were sent here.”
The newcomers — mostly teenagers — are some of the hundreds of thousands of youths fleeing drug-related strife in their home countries, seeking asylum in America.
The majority of the youths sent to Dalton are from the Central American nations of El Salvador and Guatemala, Woodason said. Though the number of new students has not been unmanageable for the school system, the youths bring with them an entirely unique set of challenges for the district to address.
“They have very, very limited amounts of education. In some cases, they cannot count to 10,” Woodason said. “They can’t turn on a computer. They’ve never even seen a computer. Also, they, in most cases, cannot speak English or Spanish.”
Mostly, the students speak Mam or another language specific to their region.
Originally Posted by Split66
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