For children’s safety, Pedro Pan group supports DeSantis’s efforts to stem unaccompanied minors

Re the Feb. 3 story “Cubans who arrived through Operation Pedro Pan oppose DeSantis’ immigration orders:”

Operation Pedro Pan Group, Inc. is a non-profit organization and, therefore, does not get involved in political matters. The article mentions political operatives who are not Pedro Pans and do not speak for us.

Moreover, others have been writing letters to Pedro Pans pushing us to act. Those of us associated with Operation Pedro Pan Group are speaking personally and not through the organization.

This current issue has nothing to do with Operation Pedro Pan.

While the licenses may go back to the time of our exodus, some of those were sold by the Catholic Church; others had been temporarily rented and went back to their owners when they were no longer needed.

No one is more aware of the vulnerability of children than a former unaccompanied child and no one feels more for the plight of present-day unaccompanied children than we do. It is for this reason that we find that facilitating the dangerous trips that these children take in the hands of unscrupulous coyotes is unconscionable. It is even more alarming to find that they are being secretly flown, in the dead of night, and that no record of their names is given to the state.

Children should never be handled in this irresponsible manner. Transporting these minors in secrecy exposes them to dangerous sex trafficking and other evils from which they should be protected.

During Operation Pedro Pan, we came directly into the hands of the Catholic Church. We had passports and documents identifying who we were and, even more important, who our parents were.

Under the guidance of Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh, our spiritual father, we were extremely well protected. We know that the children who fall under the umbrella of Catholic Charities are well taken care of, but do we know how many are not that fortunate and end up in the wrong hands?

Because we consider the safety and well-being of unaccompanied minors to be of the utmost importance, we fully support the governor’s efforts to combat this reckless manipulation of human beings. His initiative minimizes the involvement of cartels and traffickers in the lives of these innocent children.

This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 1:43 PM with the headline "For children’s safety, Pedro Pan group supports DeSantis’s efforts to stem unaccompanied minors."