Kennedy attending Washington panel on immigrant youth

LYNN – Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy participates this week in a Washington, D.C., panel discussion on immigrant children entering the United States, and immigrant advocates said she should emphasize one major point: “Show me the money.””Local municipalities have borne the brunt of a lack of inaction in Washington. We need reform and resources,” said local immigrant organizer Alexandra Pineros-Shields.Kennedy told local business community members in June she planned to travel to Washington to talk to refugee and immigration experts about Lynn’s 250 percent increase in immigrant children arriving in the city since 2010.National attention focused on this youth migration set off pro-immigrant protests in July in Lynn and a State House confrontation between Kennedy and advocates. Kennedy was reluctant last week to talk about her Washington trip until her return, but she made it clear during her June speech that “the money must flow” when it comes to federal aid to communities with growing immigrant youth populations.According to School Department statistics, 26 mostly Guatemalan youth came to Lynn during the 2011-2012 school year. As of June 2014, the number of unaccompanied minors stood at 248 minors.Pineros-Shields works for the Essex County Community Organization, which consists of 30 churches focused on immigrant rights and other concerns. The group counted 133 immigrant children who, she said, were reunited in 2014 with guardians or parents.Federal law gives youth crossing the United States border the right to a hearing on their immigration status. They can be reunited with guardians or parents at those individuals’ expense until a hearing takes place.”They are basically in deportation proceedings,” she said.Kennedy’s and local school officials’ concerns relative to “unaccompanied minors” has focused since 2012 on taxpayer costs associated with educating newly arriving children. Local parent Carla Moniz said national attention on the immigrants has taken the focus away from where, in her view, Kennedy and others should aim it.”Lynn doesn’t have jurisdiction on immigration issues. The mayor’s focus should be school funding: If she needs additional money, let’s have that discussion,” Moniz said.Lynn also saw 202 refugees settle in the city in 2014, according to state statistics provided to the School Department. These individuals followed a different route into the U.S. than Central American immigrants. About 100 refugee children get educational assistance at the New American Center, where Director Natasha Soolkin raised concerns about how federal money can be spread between the challenges of helping unaccompanied minors and refugee children.”The school district is really burdened. It needs resources to meet the needs of all children arriving in Lynn,” said Pineros-Shields.She said Chelsea residents are providing a model for how communities can help immigrant and refugee children. Organizations held social events and sponsored activities to raise money and provide school supplies for arriving children.