Labels matter in deciding fate of children crossing the border

Immigration protest
Protestors leave an anti-illegal immigration protest outside a US Border Patrol facility in Murrieta, California, on July 7, 2014.
ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

President Obama has called the wave of unaccompanied minors crossing the border into the United States an "urgent humanitarian situation" and requested $3.7 billion in emergency funds to handle the crisis.

So far, more than 52,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended in the U.S.

But are these children economic migrants or refugees? And how does that categorization change their fate?

How should these unaccompanied children be handled as they come over the border? Should they be immediately sent back, or should they be regarded as protected refugees? Leave your comments below.

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