Dear Friend,
Right now, unaccompanied immigrant children are under attack. The new administration has renewed efforts to weaken protections for these kids, falsely calling essential legal safeguards “loopholes.” Unaccompanied children—infants, preschoolers, grade-schoolers and teens in government custody—are among the most vulnerable to trauma, trafficking, and abuse. They deserve safety, not punishment and persecution. At this moment, we don’t know exactly what the administration’s next steps will be to get rid of more protections, but we do know this: We must be ready.
Unaccompanied children who arrive at our borders are detained by Border Patrol officials until they can be transferred to more protective custody provided by a different federal agency--the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Legal protections such as the Flores Settlement Agreement and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) ensure that children are moved to appropriate custody within 72 hours and receive basic services while in custody. These laws exist because children are not the same as adults and should not be treated as such.
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In the upcoming days, we may need you to call or write to your representatives to defend these protections for unaccompanied children.
We might even need you to take an extra step. If you’re willing to share why protecting unaccompanied children matters to you, we’d love for you to join us in meetings with members of Congress. We’ll schedule the meetings, provide background information, and prepare you for the conversation. Your personal story and advocacy can have a lasting impact. |
