B Stands for Boys & Girls

Good afternoon,

As the United States continues to grapple with a historic influx of migrants at the southern border and the arrival of Afghan refugees, government agencies continue to balance the challenges of caring for unaccompanied minors and children separated from their families.

Last month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection had 18,847 encounters with unaccompanied children, only a 1% decrease from its July encounters. Additionally, the Biden administration is still working to reunify families who were separated at the border under the previous administration’s Zero Tolerance Policy. The federal Family Reunification Task Force recently announced the expansion of its efforts to locate the parents of an estimated 4,000 separated children. The task force launched a registration page for families to contact the government for assistance and will work with the International Organization for Migration to help parents legally travel back to the U.S. to be with their children. Since the start of the task force in February, about 50 families have been reunited.

It was also announced recently that the Central American Minors (CAM) initiative is now accepting new applications. The CAM program— which began in 2014 under President Obama – provides at-risk children in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras an opportunity for resettlement in the U.S. Instead of having children make the dangerous journey to the southern border, qualifying parents or guardians can apply to have their children under the age of 21 join them under refugee or parole status. Before it was terminated by the Trump administration in 2017, the program admitted over 3,000 children into the U.S.

Although most Afghan evacuees arriving in the U.S. are adults or families, over 100 Afghan children have arrived without their parents, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Many of these children have been reunited with their relatives, but others are now in the care of HHS' Office of Refugee Resettlement. With the arrival of these unaccompanied Afghan children, shelters used to house children mostly from Central America will face new challenges as they figure out how to best overcome language and cultural differences to serve Afghan youth.

These developments underscore the importance of establishing a functional immigration system that includes viable pathways for vulnerable populations seeking refuge and protection. This belief has support across party lines. In a new poll of 1,200 adults, 65% of Americans — including 61% of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 75% of Democrats — agreed "that the United States should have a legal, secure process in place to take in people from oppressed or war-torn countries, such as Afghanistan."

Forum CEO Ali Noorani aptly states: "As a nation, we must not lose sight of migrants’ human dignity or our own humanity. Americans recognize this. Our policies must reflect it."

Stay healthy and hopeful,

Adam

Adam Estle
Vice President of Field and Constituencies
National Immigration Forum 

NEWS CLIPS TO NOTE:

THE xxxxxx: Securing the Border Without Hardening Our Hearts

WASHINGTON POST: Amid furor over border images, Biden faces Democratic backlash on immigration

BORDER REPORT: Advocates, migrants to press Democrats for immigration reform despite Senate setback

AL JAZEERA: US House approves $6.3bn for Afghan refugee resettlement