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Dear Friend,
This week is a reminder that our fight to protect immigrant children is not over. Now is the time to finally end old policies that put children directly in harm’s way and ensure families separated by the last administration finally receive much-needed support. Equally important, we must forge ahead in creating new policies that reform a system where children are routinely separated from trusted adults, held in custody for months and even years on end, and denied the opportunity to live and thrive.
The Young Center’s Policy Program has been at the frontlines of this fight to protect immigrant children and their families from separation, detention and deportation.
In 2022 alone, we:
- Celebrated the Children’s Safe Welcome Act: Introduced in Congress in July, this bill prioritizes keeping children with their families and strengthens protections for children navigating our country’s immigration system.
- Fought for children’s right to call parents and families every day while detained, and to end a system of “write ups” for behavior that unfairly penalize traumatized
youth: This year, we published two reports with detailed recommendations on how the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) should revise longstanding policies to better support children in government custody.
- Demanded
an end to Remain in Mexico and Title 42: We celebrated the Department of Homeland Security’s announcement to officially roll back “Remain in Mexico” in early August, but we continue to advocate against the outrageous continuation and expansion of unlawful, Title 42 “border expulsions” that separate families.
- Shaped federal programs and guidelines around unaccompanied immigrant children: Through our ongoing engagement with federal officials, we advanced efforts to avoid traumatic separations and keep immigrant children with adult relatives through the Trusted Adult Relative Program and other initiatives.
- Advocated for the equal treatment of
children with disabilities: We
fought to ensure immigrant children with disabilities in federal custody receive services in the most integrated settings appropriate to their needs.
- Sought accountability for immigration policies rooted in racism and exclusion: In July, with the first class of Elizabeth Frankel Fellows, we filed a comment condemning the United States’
ongoing violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), focusing on how a history of racist immigration policies continues to harm children seeking protection in the U.S.
Your ongoing support was critical to each of these victories, and in helping us continue our fight to create a more humane and just immigration system where children are treated as children. This Giving Tuesday, help us continue that work.
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