Friend,

Last week, Congress passed a reconciliation bill that will inflict devastating harm on unaccompanied children and children detained their families, despite a host of long-standing, bipartisan laws that exist to protect children.

Congressional and White House leaders know their policy goals (deporting children and families at all costs) are unlawful, but they've decided the rules don't apply to them anymore.

However, we see the budget bill for what it is: an end-run around the law.

Signed into law on July 4th, the budget bill mandates cruelty. It:

• Allocates $45 billion to expand family detention camps and gives ICE a green light to lock up children with their families indefinitely, despite a court order to the contrary.
• Gives CBP a green light to ignore the anti-trafficking law that ensures children arriving alone at the border receive shelter and a day in court, which dramatically escalates the risk children will be turned away or sent to a third country no matter what dangers they will experience.
• Makes it nearly impossible for parents and other family members to sponsor an unaccompanied child’s release from detention, meaning children may be locked up for years even if they have family here who could care for them.
• Funnels $40 million dollars to Homeland Security to pay for body searches of immigrant children as young as 12 years old to look for gang markings, creating unchecked opportunities for abuse.

One of the Young Center's Policy team said it best. Because of these rule-breaking maneuvers in the Senate, “We never had a chance to fight, which meant children never had a chance to fight. And this will hurt ALL children.”

Today, right now, Young Center staff are working to identify every attack on immigrant children concealed in the budget bill and make plans to protect children and families from these harms. When the first Trump administration tore immigrant children from their families, we immediately expanded our Child Advocate work to meet that critical moment. And while many people think separation ended in 2018, our teams continue to fight for families separated seven years ago who face new separations today. When the disastrous evacuation from Afghanistan separated hundreds of Afghan children from their families, we created a working team overnight to fight to get those children reunited with their families.

Whatever is required of us in this new, terrible moment, we will step forward, grounded in our mission, to meet the challenge. And we'll need all of you to join us. If you feel powerless or hopeless right now, join us and keep this fight going strong. 

When the rules are broken to attack vulnerable immigrant children, we have to stand up. Together, with the entire Young Center community, we will.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Nagda

Young Center Chief Programs Officer

Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights
P.O. Box 2417
Chicago, IL 60690

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