On the evening of October 23rd (Wednesday), the non-profit organization “Mom Army” initiated a nationwide candlelight vigil event to pray for the tens of thousands of unaccompanied children crossing the US-Mexico border alone and other missing children.
In Oakland, California, nearly 20 people gathered in front of the Oakland Federal Building to participate in the national candlelight vigil event. The event was co-hosted by the Coalition for Community Engagement and Mom Army.
Edward Escobar, the founder of the Coalition for Community Engagement, stated, “Protecting children is protecting our future. Tonight, we gather here to say ‘enough!’ We must come together to seek solutions because these children rely on us for protection.”
Oakland City Council member Noel Gallo, who raised three daughters and a son in Oakland, mentioned that in the past, children could safely walk to school and back home, but this has now become a challenge.
During the gathering, Cheyenne Kenney spoke about the over 300,000 missing children, emphasizing that these are not just numbers but lives. This is why we are here today—to ask politicians: Where are the children?
Wendy Huang, a Chinese-American council candidate from Union City, also demanded accountability at the event, stating that the government must determine the whereabouts of these children. She stressed that if we do not speak up for them, it is a betrayal of humanity.
Tuan Ngo from Asians Unite urged the public to pay attention to the issue of child trafficking. He stated that society should protect these children, and Oakland’s children are also facing a fentanyl crisis. He encouraged everyone to vote actively and choose candidates who prioritize child safety.
At the gathering, Reverend Gregory Nash led everyone in prayer, asking God to bring the children back home.
In 1984, Perez Tito’s sister was kidnapped while crossing the border but was successfully rescued. Tito stated that this situation has persisted for too long and cannot be tolerated any longer. He called for unity among political parties to help these immigrant children, believing that unrestricted open borders without DNA testing is unreasonable.
Harrison Tinsley, a father from the Bay Area who only saw his son for the first time over a year after his birth, deeply understood the pain of losing a child. He emphasized that as parents, citizens, and adults, protecting these vulnerable children is our responsibility. We need to elect courageous leaders who can truly stand up and fight for the children, for truth, and for critical issues.
On August 19th, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a management alert, stating that they are unable to monitor all unaccompanied immigrant children released from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) supervision.
The report indicated that as of May 2024, over 291,000 unaccompanied minor immigrant children had entered the US and been released without a scheduled immigration court date, making their whereabouts untraceable.
Additionally, there were 32,000 immigrant children who, although given court dates, ultimately did not attend their immigration court hearings. This report covered data from October 2018 to September 2023. During this period, ICE transferred a total of 448,820 unaccompanied immigrant children to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) of the HHS.