Protection for Vulnerable Immigrant Children Under Attack in House of Representatives

Last summer, pervasive violence and abuse forced Honduran, Guatemalan, and Salvadoran children to flee their countries seeking safety and protection. The good news is that the U.S. has long been a champion for refugees, as well as a standard-bearer for child welfare – while the bad news is that some in Congress want this to change. Two bills recently proposed in the House of Representatives threaten to fundamentally alter our national character in a gambit to return unaccompanied immigrant children to the very persecution they fled. Although they are unlikely to overcome a near-certain presidential veto, it’s critical to know more about the protections and unaccompanied immigrant children they put at risk.

"These provisions and others found in these bills guarantee that many, many unaccompanied immigrant children will be returned to the severe violence, abuse, and persecution that they fled."

A nation founded by religious refugees, the U.S. in the modern era codified its traditional protections by ratifying the 1951 Refugee Convention and passing the Refugee Act of 1980. Today, someone seeking protection from persecution in her home country in the U.S. can rely on a fair and transparent application process that takes into account the unique practical and emotional challenges faced by refugees.

The U.S. takes equally seriously the protection of another vulnerable population, children. In fact, ongoing opposition to the U.S.’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child often cites the comprehensiveness of the extant child protection system in the U.S. as nullifying the need to ratify.

These histories intertwined in the bipartisan passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA), which affords critical procedural and humanitarian protections to unaccompanied immigrant children escaping persecution and abuse in their home countries.

Two bills just introduced in the House of Representatives – H.R. 1153 and 5143 – would vitiate the TVPRA’s protections for unaccompanied immigrant children and severely impair the fairness and transparency of the asylum application process. They propose new rules that would mandate the detention of children in adult detention centers along the border and require those same detained children who are seeking protection from persecution to “prove” their case within 14 days in a court of law, whether or not they have access to a lawyer or even a trusted adult. These provisions and others found in these bills guarantee that many, many unaccompanied immigrant children will be returned to the severe violence, abuse, and persecution that they fled. If H.R. 1153 and 5143 become law, the U.S. will no longer be able to claim superiority in child or humanitarian protection.

Take action to ensure that critical protections for refugees and unaccompanied immigrant children are preserved.

Call to Action

bW

Sign up to stay involved

Enter your e-mail to receive legal updates, action alerts, and more!