The Young Center Honors Unaccompanied Minors In 'Ofrendas 2020' Exhibition
By Laila Alvarez
The Los Angeles Young Center office had the distinct honor of contributing to the 47th annual Día de Los Muertos virtual exhibition, Ofrendas 2020, curated by Los Angeles artist, Sandy Rodriguez. In light of our advocacy and close work with unaccompanied minors, child advocates decided to dedicate their ofrenda to those who lost their lives on their journey. Collectively, Young Center child advocates designed a multidimensional ofrenda draped in marigolds to celebrate the young lives of four migrant children. The three levels of the ofrenda symbolize heaven, earth, and the underworld with a 360-view layout depicting the portraits of Angie Valeria Martinez- Ramirez, Gurupreet Kaur, Jorge Alexander Ruiz Duban, and Jasson Ricardo Acuña Polanco. Candles, toys, pan de Muerto, small trinkets, books, candy, and a marigold arch guide the four spirits back to our mortal world.
The first picture captured on the ofrenda is Angie Valeria Martinez- Ramirez from El Salvador. At the young age of 23 months, Angie began her journey with her parents to the United States. Her mother and father left their home country, dreaming of attaining financial stability in the United States for their growing family. The dangerous journey forced Valeria and her family to cross the dangerous Rio Grande River, where she and her father drowned on June 24, 2019.
The following portrait captures a joyful picture of 6-year-old Gurupreet Kaur from India. Once again, economic hardships forced Gurupreet and her mother to embark on a thousand-mile journey. While traveling through Arizona border deserts, temperatures reached 108 degrees Fahrenheit, causing Gurupreet to suffer from heatstroke and passing away on June 12, 2019.
The last two portraits on the altar share the images of 17-year-old Jorge Alexander Ruiz Duban and 16-year-old Jasson Ricardo Acuña Polanco, who met during their journey from Honduras to the border town of Tijuana. Jorge and Jasson were among the hundreds of unaccompanied Central American children waiting for their asylum claims while living in large caravan refugee camps in Mexico. Inhumane conditions at the camp and violence pushed Jasson and Jorge to cross the border on their own. Their journey came to a tragic end when local drug cartel members abducted and attacked the two minors, killing the teens on December 15, 2018.
The children honored in our altar are four of countless immigrant children who arrive each year from across the globe to our border. With our altar, we celebrate the children who courageously travel from across the world, braving hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles, to seek protection at our border.
The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights was founded in Chicago in 2004. The vision was to develop a program to advocate for the best interests of unaccompanied immigrant children- even though U.S. immigration law does not recognize children as distinct from adults. In 2008, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, providing the legal appointment of Child Advocates whose role is to advocate for the child’s best interest. Since then, the Young Center has expanded the Child Advocate program to eight offices across the country, serving children in government custody in Chicago, Harlingen, Houston, Washington, D.C., New York, San Antonio, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. Our mission is to serve as trusted allies for these children while they are in deportation proceedings and advocate for a dedicated children’s immigrant justice system that ensures the safety and well-being of every child. We advocate for their best interests—from custody and release to the ultimate decision about whether the child will be allowed to remain in the U.S. Our goal is to change both immigration policy and practice so that immigrant children are recognized first as children, and their best interests are considered in every decision.
For more details regarding the four migrant children honored in our altar, please refer to the following sources:
Jorge Alexander Ruiz Duban and Jasson Ricardo Acuna Polanco:
Laila Alvarez is the Volunteer Coordinator at The Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights.