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Washington Update Unaccompanied Children On January 22, Sens. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., and Bob Graham, D.-Fla., introduced the Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act of 2001, S121. If passed this legislation will provide significant protection to children who would otherwise have to face Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) custody and removal proceedings alone. Most significantly it will require that all unaccompanied children have guardians ad litem and court-appointed lawyers to identify and defend their best interests. Presently unaccompanied children are caught up in a system that often treats them as delinquents, even though they have committed no crime, and is bent upon their removal, even though there may be legal grounds for them to remain. No child should have to face such a system alone. The law would also create an Office of Children's Services within the Department of Justice. The new office would have jurisdiction over custody and release decisions regarding unaccompanied minors in INS detention and oversight responsibility for foster care and shelter care facilities-functions currently carried out by the INS's Office of Detention and Removal. The new office would also establish standards and conditions for the detention of such children. The INS would be required to parole alien children into the United States and to transfer custody to the new office within 72 hours. The government would also be required to report on the fate of those who are returned to their country of origin. S121 would also give kids a few breaks in the immigration law. The attorney general would have the power to waive certain grounds of inadmissibility and removal under compelling circumstances such as unlawful entry in order to flee persecution or threat to life. The immigration status of children who age out of eligibility for immigrant visas while INS approval is pending would also be protected. And the Special Immigrant Juvenile Visa would be made a more useful and flexible means of providing permanent protection for deserving unaccompanied alien children. The bill calls on the Executive Office for Immigration Review to adopt the INS's recently issued Guidelines for Children's Asylum Claims. In addition the act would exempt children from expedited removal, the filing deadline for applying for asylum, the safe third-country exceptions from asylum, and the stowaway exception of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which would otherwise deprive them of certain due process considerations. The new children's office would offer immigration training to officials involved with unaccompanied alien children in dependency proceedings and social services to ensure that they know about protection options for such children. The State Department would also be required to take steps to identify, report on and train personnel regarding the needs of unaccompanied refugee children. LIRS strongly supports this legislation. Please write to both your senators today and ask them to sign on as co-sponsors to the Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act of 2001!
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