Advocacy Update
April 2007

LIRS Applauds Reintroduction of Legislation to Protect Children
By Emily Butera, LIRS Policy Advocate

This article is also available in PDF format.

Imagine you are a 15-year-old from El Salvador. You have just arrived at a shelter for unaccompanied alien children. Although the staff speaks Spanish, you speak an indigenous dialect, and it is difficult to explain why you came and what you need. You ran away from a gang in your country that was trying to recruit you. You are relieved to be in the United States, but you do not really understand what is happening to you. To get here you hopped trains and walked from Guatemala to the U.S.-Mexico border, where you walked across the desert. Along the way, you may have been robbed, preyed on by smugglers, and even raped. When you finally made it to America you were apprehended by Border Patrol. You thought you would be allowed to stay, but you now face bewildering legal procedures and you have to represent yourself in court. You want to go live with your mother, who is already in the United States, but she is undocumented and is too afraid to come forward.

The Homeland Security Act of 2002 transferred custody of nearly 8,000 such children from the Department of Homeland Security to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Although the care provided by ORR is far superior to the previous system, which left the same federal agency responsible for both caring for children and for removing them from the country, appropriate conditions of child detention are still not codified and age-appropriate services are still not standardized. The Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act, recently reintroduced in the Senate by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), would ensure that unaccompanied children receive fair and humane treatment consistent with our nation’s values and responsibilities.

If passed, the legislation, commonly known as the Children’s Bill, would guarantee minimum standards of care for children, including education, medical care and access to counsel. Whenever possible, children would be reunited with their parents or legal guardians. When reunification is not an option, children in immigration proceedings would be placed in the least restrictive setting appropriate, such as foster care or homelike facilities. In addition, children in ORR custody would be provided with child advocates to speak for their best interest and to make recommendations regarding custody, detention, release and removal. The Children’s Bill would also create a system for providing children with free legal counsel, and would expand protections for children who have been abandoned, abused or neglected. In addition, this legislation would increase the likelihood that children who have been victims of smugglers and traffickers or who have claims to asylum are identified and able to access relief.

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