Take Action on Behalf of Unaccompanied Children
Write to Your Senators and Representative

The most important thing you can do right now is to write letters to both your senators and to your representaive, asking them to co-sponsor the Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act of 2003, S1129/HR3361. (Read more.) This means that they would go on record as supporting the bill, and serves as a signal to the congressional leadership that they should move it forward. Since Republicans are in the leadership it is especially important to get Republican senators and representatives to sign on as co-sponsors. View a current list of co-sponsors.

How to Write a Letter
You may use the text below as a guide, copying and pasting as you like. Personalized letters are the most effective, so feel free to put the arguments in your own words. Tell your senators and representative why this issue is important to you. If you have experience with foster care, helping children in the legal system, etc., be sure to mention it to show that you know something extra about what this is all about.

If you want to do a little research on your senators and representative, click here. Select your state from the drop down menu to get links to their websites. You may be invited to send an e-mail message. It won't hurt but it won't have much effect either—they get thousands of those every week! Letters and faxes, especially if they are followed up by phone calls, are the easiest effective way to contact elected officials.

Sample Letter View letter in editable MS Word format for convenient personalization: Senate version • House version [Your name] [Your Address] [Date] The Honorable [senator's full name] United States Senate Washington DC 20510 OR The Honorable [representative’s full name] United States House of Representatives Washington DC 20515 Dear Senator [senator's last name] OR Dear Rep. [representative's last name] (to find your senators' and representative's names, enter your ZIP code in the blue box at the top of the right-hand column): Please co-sponsor [S1129 (the Senate bill) OR HR3361 (the House bill)], the Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act of 2003. This bill would provide significant protections for unaccompanied children who would otherwise have to face custody and removal proceedings alone. No child should be put in this position. [S1129 OR HR3361] would provide a structure for pro-bono counsel so children do not have to navigate the judicial system alone and would allow the appointment of guardians ad litem—adults trained in child welfare who ensure that children's best interests are taken into account during legal proceedings. It would ensure that unaccompanied children are housed in shelters or in foster care if their own families are unable to care for them. For situations when detention is absolutely necessary, the bill would establish minimum standards of care. The new bill expands upon the provisions passed last year in the Homeland Security Act, which transferred care and custody of unaccompanied children from the Immigration and Naturalization Service to an office for children’s services within the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services. Each year, more than 5,000 foreign-born children are discovered in the United States unaccompanied by a parent or guardian. Many of these children have experienced persecution against themselves or their family members and have come seeking asylum and protection. Others have been smuggled into the country by human traffickers, and are at risk of being caught again by smugglers and forced into sweatshop labor or worse. And some are victims of neglect, abuse or abandonment. Please cosponsor [S1129 OR HR3361] and take a stand for these unaccompanied children—the least among us. I look forward to receiving your reply. Respectfully yours, [Your signature]

After the Letter, Then What?
Stop and think: who else do I know would care about this? Make a list of maybe half a dozen of your friends and colleagues and then ask them to write as well. Maybe you can ask your church or civic organization to take up the issue with individual members writing as well as the organization itself sending a letter on its letterhead. Keep copies of all these.

By now you have a small collection of concerned citizens taking action on this issue! It's time to have a meeting with the Senator's office! Now don't be scared-you don't have to go to Washington to do this. Your Senator has offices in your state, probably one near you. Call them up and ask for an appointment. If your organization supports this, say you are calling on their behalf, otherwise you can say that you represent a coalition of citizens concerned about this issue (yep, that's you and your friends!) When you go in, you will deliver copies of the letters you have sent to Washington, tell the local staff about the issue and ask them to make sure that the Senator's Washington staff have gotten the letters and are acting on them.

Be polite. Be respectful. Be informed. But remember they are your servants. They work for you.

For even more ideas, contact specialists at LIRS's office in Washington, D.C. Include a daytime phone number.

Page last modified November 30, 2004