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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
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Results for immigrant children
21 results foundAuthor: Byrne, Olga Title: Unaccompanied Children in the United States: A Literature Review Summary: Every year in the United States, thousands of noncitizen children who have been separated from their parents or other legal guardians undergo removal (deportation) proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Unfortunately, pro bono legal services for these unaccompanied children are in short supply, and very few have the resources to hire their own legal counsel. This literature review seeks to inform Vera's work by sketching an overview of the published research on unaccompanied children in the United States. It also seeks to place that overview in its proper legal, institutional, and historical context. Details: New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2008. 48p. Source: Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 113910 Keywords: Immigrant Children |
Author: Hedjam, Sofia Title: Disappearing, Departing, Running Away. A Surfeit of Children in Europe? Summary: This report describes the phenomenon of foreign unaccompanied minors disappearing from institutions where they had been placed by authorites in the countries of Belgium, Spain, France and Switzerland. It includes information collected in detail and recommendations to governments, legislative authorities, the judiciary and social services. Details: Lausanne, Switzerland: Terre des hommes, 2010. 85p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: Europe URL: Shelf Number: 118594 Keywords: Immigrant ChildrenImmigrants |
Author: 11 Million Title: The Children's Commissioner for England's Follow Up Report to: The Arrest and Detention of Children Subject to Immigration Control Summary: This report concerns the third visit of the Children’s Commissioner to Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre which took place in October 2009. It follows on from our visit in May 2008 and the subsequent report The Arrest and Detention of Children Subject to Immigration Control (2009). The aim of this report is to examine the progress made in addressing the concerns raised regarding children’s experience of the immigration removal process and detention. In doing so we are mindful of our statutory duty to promote awareness of the views and interests of children in England and to have awareness of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Children Act 2004 also requires the Commissioner to have particular regard to groups of children who do not have other adequate means by which they can make their views known. While we fully acknowledge the Government’s right to determine who is allowed to stay in this country, my contention remains that detention is harmful to children and therefore never likely to be in their best interests, and we continue to argue that the detention of children for immigration control should cease. Details: London: 11 Million, 2010. 82p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 13, 2010 at: http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/ Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/ Shelf Number: 119938 Keywords: Immigrant ChildrenImmigrant DetentionImmigrantsJuvenile Detention |
Author: Chaudry, Ajay Title: Facing Our Future: Children in the Aftermath of Immigration Enforcement Summary: This report examines the consequences of parental arrest, detention, and deportation on 190 children in 85 families in six locations, providing in-depth details on parent-child separations, economic hardships, and children's well-being. The contentious immigration debates around the country mostly revolve around illegal immigration. Less visible have been the 5.5 million children with unauthorized parents, almost three-quarters of whom are U.S.-born citizens. Over several years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intensified enforcement activities through large-scale worksite arrests, home arrests, and arrests by local law enforcement. The report provides recommendations for stakeholders to mitigate the harmful effects of immigration enforcement on children. Details: Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 2011. 96p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 13, 2011 at: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412020_FacingOurFuture_final.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412020_FacingOurFuture_final.pdf Shelf Number: 122050 Keywords: Illegal AliensIllegal ImmigrantsImmigrant ChildrenImmigrant Detention (U.S.) |
Author: Gauthier, Kate Title: No Place for Children: Immigration Detention on Christmas Island Summary: Detaining children violates their basic human rights. But when they are housed in locked facilities such as Christmas Island, it is the responsibility of the government and its contractors, in this case Serco Asia Pacific (“Serco”), to take the very best care of the children. Serco is contractually bound by its Detention Services Contract with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to provide services to people in immigration detention. Many children in detention have fled active war zones, and depriving them of liberty does not promote their recovery from such experiences. As the mental health section of this report shows, detention compounds trauma. Australia's mandatory detention regime has been found to be arbitrary. For all people who do not hold a valid visa, it is the first, not last, resort. This is its ultimate point of failure: the system is fundamentally flawed. While it imprisons children as a first resort and for indefinite periods of time, it contravenes international law and common sense morality. Children should not be locked up. Ultimately the government must recognise this and legislate to prevent the implementation of policies that breach Australia‟s legal and moral obligations. Details: Neutral Bay, NSW, AUS: ChilOut - Children Out of Immigration Detention, 2011. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 2, 2011 at: http://www.chilout.org/web_images/No%20Place%20for%20Children%20-%20Final.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: http://www.chilout.org/web_images/No%20Place%20for%20Children%20-%20Final.pdf Shelf Number: 122257 Keywords: Illegal ImmigrantsImmigrant ChildrenImmigrant Detention (Australia)Immigrants |
Author: Byrne, Olga Title: The Flow of Unaccompanied Children Through the Immigration System: A Resource for Practitioners, Policy Makers, and Researchers Summary: Unaccompanied children placed in immigration proceedings in the United States are likely to encounter a complex web of policies and practices, numerous government agencies—each acting in accordance with a different mission and objective—and a legal process that often takes years to resolve. Since 2005, the Vera Institute of Justice has administered the Unaccompanied Children Program, which provides access to legal services for people who are younger than 18, have no lawful immigration status, and have no parent or legal guardian in the United States available to provide care and custody. The program is funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services responsible for these children after apprehension and referral by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Vera’s work on this project has given it unique access to a national network of legal services providers with expertise in representing unaccompanied children, as well as to quantitative and qualitative information about unaccompanied children from these providers and from ORR. This report is based on project staff’s analysis of this material and their review of the most recent information about this population, including documents published by government agencies and nongovernmental organizations. It aims to demystify a sometimes daunting process by providing a thorough overview of the system—from the children’s point of apprehension by immigration enforcement authorities to their release from government custody and the end of their immigration cases—and to clearly describe the maze of government agencies, actors, and policies. Key system characteristics revealed in the course of this analysis include: Up to 15 percent of unaccompanied children enter the system as a result of being apprehended “internally” in the United States (as opposed to at a port of entry); Most children referred by DHS to ORR (80 percent) are placed in a shelter setting—the least restrictive type of placement available within the ORR system; Most children (75 percent) remain in ORR custody for one week to four months, with an average stay of 61 days; At least 65 percent of children admitted to ORR custody are ultimately placed with a sponsor living in the United States; Approximately 40 percent of children admitted into ORR custody are identified as eligible for a form of legal relief from removal (such as asylum, special immigrant juvenile status, or visas for victims of crime or trafficking); Fewer than 1 percent of children are granted relief from removal during their stay in ORR custody. Although this publication provides a comprehensive system overview, relatively little is known about the experiences of children in the system, and additional empirical research is needed. This report is intended as a resource to assist practitioners, policy makers, and researchers in their work with unaccompanied children, and to help people in the field make strides toward improving the multilayered immigration process faced by thousands of children annually. Details: New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2012. 38p. Source: Center on Immigration and Justice, Vera Institute: Internet Resource: Accessed March 9, 2012 at http://www.vera.org/download?file=3483/the-flow-of-unaccompanied-children-through-the-immigration-system.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.vera.org/download?file=3483/the-flow-of-unaccompanied-children-through-the-immigration-system.pdf Shelf Number: 124412 Keywords: Immigrant Children |
Author: Wessler, Seth Freed Title: Shattered Families: The Perilous Intersection of Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System Summary: This report presents a national investigation on threats to families when immigration enforcement and the child welfare system intersect. It explores the extent to which children in foster care are prevented from uniting with their detained or deported parents and the failures of the child welfare system to adequately work to reunify these families. Immigration policies and laws are based on the assumption that families will, and should, be united, whether or not parents are deported. Similarly, child welfare policy aims to reunify families whenever possible. In practice, however, when mothers and fathers are detained and deported and their children are relegated to foster care, family separation can last for extended periods. Too often, these children lose the opportunity to ever see their parents again when a juvenile dependency court terminates parental rights. In fiscal year 2011, the United States deported a record-breaking 397,000 people and detained nearly that many. According to federal data released to ARC through a Freedom of Information Act request, a growing number and proportion of deportees are parents. In the first six months of 2011, the federal government removed more than 46,000 mothers and fathers of U.S.-citizen children. These deportations shatter families and endanger the children left behind. Details: New York: Applied Research Center, 2011. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 28, 2012 at: http://act.colorlines.com/acton/form/1069/0041:d-0001/0/index.htm Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://act.colorlines.com/acton/form/1069/0041:d-0001/0/index.htm Shelf Number: 124753 Keywords: Child WelfareDeportation (U.S.)Foster CareImmigrant ChildrenImmigrant DetentionImmigrationImmigration Enforcement |
Author: Corlett, D. Title: Captured Childhood: Introducing a New Model to Ensure the Rights and Liberty of Refugee, Asylum Seeker and Irregular Migrant Children Affected by Immigration Detention Summary: This document explores the treatment of migrant, refugee, and asylum seeking children in detention facilities around the world. It presents the Child-sensitive Community Assessment and Placement model to help countries improve preventative measures against child detention and details good practice examples. This model is a 5-step process to avoid the detention of refugee, asylum seeker and irregular migrant children. It concludes with recommendations which promote the strengthening of community support and protection of migrant children on both national and international levels. Details: Melbourne: International Detention Coalition, 2012. 114p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 29, 2012 at: http://www.ipjj.org/fileadmin/data/documents/strategies_planning/IDC_CapturedChildhoodImmigrationDetention_2012_EN.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.ipjj.org/fileadmin/data/documents/strategies_planning/IDC_CapturedChildhoodImmigrationDetention_2012_EN.pdf Shelf Number: 125438 Keywords: Illegal AliensImmigrant ChildrenImmigrant Detention |
Author: Phillips, Susan D. Title: Children in Harm's Way: Criminal Justice, Immigration Enforcement, and Child Welfare Reports Summary: 1998, the Child Welfare League of America published a seminal issue of Child Welfare describing the needs of children with parents in prison. It marked a milestone in what has become an ongoing effort to influence how the child welfare system responds to children whose parents are arrested and the support available to relatives caring for children whose parents are incarcerated. It pointed to policies and practices that either ignored the needs of this group of vulnerable children and their families, or created impediments to reunifying children with parents who had been incarcerated. This publication, produced jointly by The Sentencing Project and First Focus, introduces readers to concerns about a subgroup of this vulnerable group of children: children whose parents are affected by the interplay of the criminal justice, child welfare, and immigration enforcement systems. In the past decade, the federal government dramatically changed its approach to enforcing federal immigration laws and the scale of its efforts. As a result, a growing number of parents are being apprehended by local and state police (often for relatively minor offenses), turned over to federal immigration authorities, held in federal detention centers, and then returned to their home countries. In many cases, their children are U.S. citizens who are forced to leave their homes to be with their parents, or who remain in the United States permanently separated from their parents. Others end up in the foster care system where they may be placed for adoption. The number of people being held in immigration detention centers while waiting for their cases to be heard in administrative immigration proceedings has reached a historic high at a time when prison growth is otherwise beginning to slow. For-profit prison companies are poised to seize on this opportunity to bolster their profit margins. This became most evident in 2010 when Arizona legislators adopted the notorious S.B. 1070 law, perceived by many as an open invitation for law enforcement agencies to engage in racial profiling. Not long after the enactment of S.B. 1070, it became clear that the legislation was based on a blueprint that had been handed out by representatives of the private prison industry at a meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council. Like an echo from the past, the questions being raised about children whose parents are targets of stepped-up immigration enforcement are similar to those that were first raised nearly 20 years ago about children whose parents were then being sent to jails and prisons in record numbers. Those questions include: What happens to children in the wake of authorities taking their parents into custody?; How do children of color view the legal system after seeing so many members of their communities being taken away by police?; And how are communities changed when arrests or immigration enforcement actions can happen at any time? And, a central issue in the articles assembled here: How does the child welfare system help or hinder families in the wake of criminal or immigration court actions against parents? Details: Washington, D.C.: Jointly published by The Sentencing Project and First Focus, 2013. 73p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed February 16, 2013 at: http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/cc_Children%20in%20Harm's%20Way-final.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/cc_Children%20in%20Harm's%20Way-final.pdf Shelf Number: 127648 Keywords: Child ProtectionChild WelfareIllegal ImmigrantsImmigrant ChildrenImmigrant DetentionImmigration EnforcementImmigration Policy |
Author: Campbell, Sarah Title: Fractured Childhoods: The separation of families by immigration detention Summary: Under s55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, the UK Border Agency has a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. However, this report presents evidence of cases in which the Border Agency repeatedly failed to safeguard children when making decisions to detain their parents, with appalling consequences for the children concerned. Research was carried out into the cases of 111 parents who were separated from 200 children by immigration detention between 2009 and 2012. 85 of these children were in fostering arrangements or local authority care during their parents’ detention. Parents were detained without time limit, for an average of 270 days. In 92 out of 111 cases, parents were eventually released, their detention having served no purpose. In 15 cases, parents were deported or removed from the UK without their children. It is difficult to imagine any other situation where children in the UK could be separated from their parents indefinitely and have such scant attention paid to their welfare. From 1st April 2013, Legal Aid ceased to be available to the vast majority of people making immigration claims. The complexity of immigration law means that it is extremely unlikely that parents will be able to successfully represent themselves. Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) therefore anticipates that we will be dealing with very many more cases where parents are separated from their children by detention and removal from the UK. Details: London: Bail for Immigration Detainees, 2013. 126p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 25, 2013 at: http://www.cypnow.co.uk/digital_assets/WEB_VERSION_FULL_REPORT.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.cypnow.co.uk/digital_assets/WEB_VERSION_FULL_REPORT.pdf Shelf Number: 128490 Keywords: Child WelfareIllegal ImmigrationImmigrant ChildrenImmigrant Detention (U.K.) |
Author: Frydman, Lisa Title: A Treacherous Journey: Child Migrants Navigating the U.S. Immigration System Summary: A Treacherous Journey: Child Migrants Navigating the U.S. Immigration System addresses the issues raised by the recent historic and unabated increase in the number of children coming unaccompanied - without a parent or legal guardian - to the United States. From 6,000-8,000 unaccompanied children entering U.S. custody, the numbers surged to 13,625 in Fiscal Year 2012 and 24,668 in Fiscal Year 2013. The government has predicted that as many as 60,000 or more unaccompanied children could enter the United States in Fiscal Year 2014. These children come from all over the world, but the majority arrive from Mexico and Central America, in particular the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Children come unaccompanied to the United States for a range of reasons. Numerous reports and the children themselves say that increasing violence in their home communities and a lack of protection against this violence spurred them to flee. Children also travel alone to escape severe intrafamilial abuse, abandonment, exploitation, deep deprivation, forced marriage, or female genital cutting. Others are trafficked to the United States for sexual or labor exploitation. Upon arrival, some children reunite with family members they have not seen in many years, but their migration is often motivated by violence and other factors, in addition to family separation. Their journeys may be as harrowing as the experiences they are fleeing, with children often facing sexual violence or other abuses as they travel. The children's challenges continue when U.S. immigration authorities apprehend them, take them into the custody of the federal government, and place them in deportation proceedings. There, they are treated as "adults in miniature" and have no right to appointed counsel and no one to protect their best interests as children in the legal system. In addition, existing forms of immigration relief do not provide sufficient safeguards to protect against deportation when it is contrary to their best interests. Details: San Francisco: Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, University of California Hastings College of the Law; Washington, DC: Kids in Need of Defense, 2014. 104p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 28, 2014 at: http://www.uchastings.edu/centers/cgrs-docs/treacherous_journey_cgrs_kind_report.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.uchastings.edu/centers/cgrs-docs/treacherous_journey_cgrs_kind_report.pdf Shelf Number: 132011 Keywords: Child ProtectionIllegal ImmigrationsImmigrant ChildrenImmigration EnforcementRunawaysUnaccompanied ChildrenUndocumented Immigrants |
Author: Parker, Christina Title: For-Profit Family Detention: Meet the Private Prison Corporations Making Millions by Locking Up Refugee Families Summary: In this joint report by Grassroots Leadership and Justice Strategies, we review the history of charges of sexual abuse and neglect of children, indifference to medical needs, inadequate and unsanitary food, and brutal treatment by staff, levied in lawsuits, government investigations, and allegations by those held in family detention facilities operated by private, for-profit, prison corporations. These same corporations are now being contracted by the federal government to detain refugee families arriving at our southern border after fleeing the violence in Central America. Details: Charlotte, NC: Grassroots Leadership; Brooklyn, NY: Justice Strategies, 2014. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 9, 2014 at: http://www.justicestrategies.org/sites/default/files/publications/For%20Profit%20Family%20Detention%20Oct%202014_0.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.justicestrategies.org/sites/default/files/publications/For%20Profit%20Family%20Detention%20Oct%202014_0.pdf Shelf Number: 133907 Keywords: Child Abuse and NeglectIllegal ImmigrantsImmigrant ChildrenImmigrant DetentionPrison Privatization (U.S.)Private PrisonsRefugees |
Author: Kandel, William A. Title: Unaccompanied Alien Children: An Overview Summary: In FY2014, the number of unaccompanied alien children (UAC, unaccompanied children) that were apprehended at the Southwest border while attempting to enter the United States without authorization increased sharply, straining the system put in place over the past decade to handle such cases. Prior to FY2014, UAC apprehensions were steadily increasing. For example, in FY2011, the Border Patrol apprehended 16,067 unaccompanied children at the Southwest border whereas in FY2014 more than 68,500 unaccompanied children were apprehended. In the first 8 months of FY2015, UAC apprehensions numbered 22,869, down 49% from the same period in FY2014. UAC are defined in statute as children who lack lawful immigration status in the United States, who are under the age of 18, and who either are without a parent or legal guardian in the United States or without a parent or legal guardian in the United States who is available to provide care and physical custody. Two statutes and a legal settlement directly affect U.S. policy for the treatment and administrative processing of UAC: the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-457); the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296); and the Flores Settlement Agreement of 1997. Several agencies in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS's) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) share responsibility for the processing, treatment, and placement of UAC. DHS Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehends and detains unaccompanied children arrested at the border while Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) handles custody transfer and repatriation responsibilities. ICE also apprehends UAC in the interior of the country and represents the government in removal proceedings. HHS coordinates and implements the care and placement of unaccompanied children in appropriate custody. Foreign nationals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico accounted for almost all UAC cases in recent years, especially in FY2014. In FY2009, when the number of UAC apprehended at the Southwest border was 19,688, foreign nationals from Mexico accounted for 82% of all UAC apprehensions at the Southwest border and the three Central American countries accounted for 17% of these apprehensions. In FY2014, the proportions had almost reversed, with Mexican UAC comprising only 23% of UAC apprehensions and unaccompanied children from the three Central American countries comprising 77%. To address the crisis, the Administration developed a working group to coordinate the efforts of federal agencies involved. It also opened additional shelters and holding facilities to accommodate the large number of UAC apprehended at the border. In June 2014, the Administration announced plans to provide funding to the affected Central American countries for a variety of programs and security-related initiatives; and in July, the Administration requested $3.7 billion in supplemental appropriations for FY2014 to address the crisis. Congress debated the supplemental appropriations but did not pass such legislation. For FY2015, Congress appropriated nearly $1.6 billion for the Refugee and Entrant Assistance Programs in ORR, the majority of which is directed toward the UAC program (P.L. 113-235). For DHS agencies, Congress appropriated $3.4 billion for detection, enforcement, and removal operations, including for the transport of unaccompanied children for CBP. The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, FY2015 (P.L. 114-4) also permits the Secretary of Homeland Security to reprogram funds within CBP and ICE and transfer such funds into the two agencies' "Salaries and Expenses" accounts for the care and transportation of unaccompanied children. P.L. 114-4 also allows for several DHS grants awarded to states along the Southwest border to be used by recipients for costs or reimbursement of costs related to providing humanitarian relief to unaccompanied children. Congressional activity on two pieces of legislation in the 114th Congress (H.R. 1153 and H.R. 1149) would make changes to current UAC policy, including amending the definition of UAC, altering current law on the treatment of unaccompanied children from contiguous countries, and amending several asylum provisions that would alter how unaccompanied children who assert an asylum claim are processed, among other things. Several other bills have been introduced without seeing legislative activity (H.R. 191/S. 129, H.R. 1700, H.R. 2491, and S. 44). Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2015. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: CRS Report R43599: Accessed August 26, 2015 at: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43599.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43599.pdf Shelf Number: 136587 Keywords: Child ImmigrantsChild Protection Immigrant ChildrenUnaccompanied Alien ChildrenUndocumented Children Undocumented Immigrants |
Author: Simich, Laura Title: Struggle for Identity and Inclusion:Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth in New York City Summary: Youth have been arriving at U.S. borders on their own since the early days of Ellis Island, but it was not until the summer of 2014 - when the number of unaccompanied immigrant youth arriving to the United States from Central America increased nearly tenfold from recent years - that "child migrants" became the topic of an urgent political debate. While local governments and legislatures across the country have shown interest in supporting unaccompanied immigrant youth through measures that increase their access to lawyers, schools, and healthcare, a lack of knowledge about their circumstances and needs presents an obstacle to policymaking and improving practical responses. Designed as a collaboration among researchers, youth, and community service providers, this study from Vera and Fordham Law School's Feerick Center for Social Justice presents a firsthand account of unaccompanied immigrant youth's needs and insights into practical challenges related to their interactions with key systems in New York. Details: New York: Vera Institute of Justice, Center on Immigration and Justice, 2015. Summary and Technical Report. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 11, 2015 at: http://www.vera.org/pubs/unaccompanied-youth-nyc Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.vera.org/pubs/unaccompanied-youth-nyc Shelf Number: 136712 Keywords: Immigrant ChildrenImmigrantsImmigrationUnaccompanied Migrant Youth |
Author: Koball, Heather Title: Health and Social Service Needs of U.S.-Citizen Children with Detained or Deported Immigrant Parents Summary: Between 2003 and 2013, the U.S. government deported 3.7 million immigrants to their home countries. According to the most reliable estimates, parents of U.S.-born children made up between one-fifth and one-quarter of this total. This Urban Institute-MPI report examines the involvement of families with a deported parent with health and social service systems, as well as their needs and the barriers they face accessing such services. Drawing from fieldwork in five study sites in California, Florida, Illinois, South Carolina, and Texas, the researchers find that family economic hardship is highly prevalent following parental detention and deportation, while child welfare system involvement is rarer. Schools represent a promising avenue for interaction with these families and delivery of services, as school officials are perceived as safer intermediaries by unauthorized immigrant parents who may be skeptical of interaction with other government agencies. Other important sources of support include health providers, legal service providers, and community- and faith-based organizations that immigrants trust. The authors suggest a number of ways to provide services and reduce harm to children with detained and deported parents. First, health and human service agencies could improve their staff's language capacity, cultural competence, and knowledge of issues associated with immigration status. Another approach involves building bridges between health and human services agencies and informal local organizations that immigrants trust. Coordination among the key agencies (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, social service agencies, and foreign country consulates) is critical, especially for the provision of child welfare services. And small organizations implement many promising strategies to serve children with detained and deported parents, but often face limited resources and high staff turnover. Institutionalizing such strategies would provide a stronger safety net for these children and families in need. Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute and Migration Policy Institute, 2015. 86p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 21, 2015 at: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/health-and-social-service-needs-us-citizen-children-detained-or-deported-immigrant-parents Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/health-and-social-service-needs-us-citizen-children-detained-or-deported-immigrant-parents Shelf Number: 136850 Keywords: Child WelfareDeportationIllegal ImmigrantsImmigrant ChildrenImmigration Enforcement |
Author: Capps, Randy Title: Implications of Immigration Enforcement Activities for the Well-Being of Children in Immigrant Families: A Review of the Literature Summary: Rising immigration enforcement in the U.S. interior over the past decade increased the chances that the estimated 5.3 million children living with unauthorized immigrant parents, the vast majority of them born in the United States, could experience the deportation of a parent. This MPI-Urban Institute report reviews the evidence on the impacts of parental deportation on children, and on their needs for health and social services. The literature mostly dates from a period of peak enforcement: 2009 through 2013, when there were nearly 4 million deportations from the United States. While data on parental removals during this period are limited, perhaps half a million were of parents of U.S.-citizen children. The economic and social instability that generally accompanies unauthorized status is further aggravated for children with a parent's deportation, with effects including psychological trauma, material hardship, residential instability, family dissolution, increased use of public benefits, and, among boys, aggression. At the extreme end, some families became permanently separated as parents lose custody of or contact with their children. Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute and Migration Policy Institute, 2015. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 24, 2015 at: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/implications-immigration-enforcement-activities-well-being-children-immigrant-families Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/implications-immigration-enforcement-activities-well-being-children-immigrant-families Shelf Number: 136856 Keywords: Illegal Immigrants Immigrant ChildrenImmigration (U.S.) Immigration EnforcementImmigration Policy Undocumented Immigrants |
Author: Pierce, Sarah Title: Unaccompanied Child Migrants in U.S. Communities, Immigration Court, and Schools Summary: More than 102,000 unaccompanied children (UACs) from Central America and Mexico were apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the U.S.-Mexico border between October 1, 2013 and August 31, 2015. The rapid influx of child arrivals in the spring and summer of 2014, which caught the attention of a concerned public and policymakers, briefly overwhelmed the systems in place for processing and caring for these children. While most of the Mexican children are quickly returned to Mexico, under U.S. law children from noncontiguous countries are transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to be processed and simultaneously placed in removal proceedings. The vast majority of these are released by ORR into the custody of a parent, relative, or friend in the United States while they wait for their cases to progress through the immigration court system. This issue brief summarizes the available data and qualitative research on where unaccompanied child migrants are being placed, how they are faring in immigration court, what types of services are available to them, and how communities, in particular schools, are adapting to their arrival. Even though a priority docket was created in the immigration courts system for unaccompanied minors, their cases continue to lag. Even when their cases are finally heard, the immigration court system has resolved the status for relatively few of them: a review of the data shows that while 70 percent of those who show up for their hearings receive some form of immigration relief, 97 percent do not receive a simultaneous grant of immigration status - meaning they remain unauthorized. Meanwhile, most removal orders go to children who fail to attend their hearings, and as a result many orders of removal go unexecuted. As these cases make their way through the courts, the children become further engrained in communities and school districts across the country. The brief finds that communities and school districts largely continue to face challenges meeting the needs of these children and have responded in disparate ways to their arrival, some creating additional programs to address children's particular needs, while others have made school enrollment more difficult for this population. Details: Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, 2015. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: MPI Issue Brief: Accessed October 19, 2015 at: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/unaccompanied-child-migrants-us-communities-immigration-court-and-schools Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/unaccompanied-child-migrants-us-communities-immigration-court-and-schools Shelf Number: 136993 Keywords: Border SecurityHuman SmugglingImmigrant ChildrenImmigration EnforcementImmigration PolicyUnaccompanied ChildrenUndocumented Children |
Author: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Title: Human Rights Situation of Refugee and Migrant Families and Unaccompanied Children in the United State of America Summary: This report addresses the situation of migrant and refugee families and unaccompanied children arriving to the southern border of the United States of America. It analyzes the context of humanitarian crises that have been taking place over the past several years in the countries of the Northern Triangle in Central America - El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras - as well as in Mexico. These crises have been generating increased migration northward, principally to the United States, and to a lesser extent Mexico and Canada. This report offers recommendations geared towards assisting the United States in strengthening its efforts to protect and guarantee the rights of the diverse group of persons in these mixed migratory movements - among them, migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees, women, children, families, and other vulnerable persons and groups in the context of human mobility. 2. In recent years, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter the "Inter-American Commission," "Commission," or "IACHR"), through its various mechanisms, has documented with concern the increasing number of persons, including children, fleeing various forms of violence in countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America - El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras - and Mexico. This violence, along with other factors, such as poverty, inequality, and various forms of discrimination, has led to the current state of humanitarian crises in the region. In its report on the Human Rights of Migrants and Other Persons in the Context of Human Mobility in Mexico (2013), the Commission documented, among other issues, the serious violence, insecurity, and discrimination that migrants in an irregular situation in Mexico encounter, in addition to troubling State responses such as immigration detention and deficiencies in due process guarantees for migrants and other persons in human mobility. In its Report on Immigration in the United States: Detention and Due Process (2011), the IACHR documented with concern the United States' response to increasing mixed migratory movements. Since the mid-1990s, this response has consisted of stepped up efforts to detect, detain, and deport migrants in an irregular situation. Some of the most dramatic spikes seen yet in the number of arrivals of unaccompanied children and families to the United States occurred between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2014 ("U.S. fiscal year 2014"), and specifically in the months of May and June 2014. According to official data, during U.S. fiscal year 2014, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended a total of 68,541 unaccompanied children and 68,445 families, which represented a 77% increase in the number of arrivals of unaccompanied children and a 361% increase in families over fiscal year 2013. The majority of the arrivals of unaccompanied children and families were to the U.S. southwest border and particularly to the Rio Grande Valley of the state of Texas. The Commission considers that this drastic uptick in the number of arrivals signals a worsening human rights situation in the principal countries of origin. Official data shows that the top four countries of origin for both unaccompanied children and families were El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. 4. The IACHR conducted the visit to the U.S. southern border from September 29 - October 2, 2014. The visit was planned and carried out in the context of monitoring the human rights situation of arriving families and unaccompanied children with respect to their apprehension; immigration detention, in many cases over long periods of time; immigration proceedings; as well as deportations and removals. To this end, the Commission visited the Rio Grande Valley area, including McAllen and Harlingen, as well as Karnes City and San Antonio, Texas. 5. According to the information received, families for whom there is capacity at an immigration detention center are automatically and arbitrarily being detained for the duration of the immigration proceedings initiated against them, even in cases where the mother has passed an initial asylum screening. Other information received by the Commission indicated that unaccompanied children of Mexican origin are, in some cases, being turned around before entering U.S. soil (a practice called a 'turn-back") or U.S. officers are failing to correctly identify Mexican unaccompanied children who may have protection needs. While the Commission considers that aspects relating to the overall legal regime in place for unaccompanied children from non-contiguous countries are consistent with international standards, it remains concerned over the lack of due process guarantees and access to mechanisms of international protection for these children in immigration proceedings. 6. For all the sub-groups identified herein, the Inter-American Commission is concerned over allegations of sexual, physical, and verbal abuse by U.S. border officials committed while migrant and refugee children and families are in the State's custody as well as the inadequate detention conditions at border and port of entry stations and family immigration detention centers. The Commission is also deeply concerned over expedited processing of these groups and the lack of access to legal representation in the immigration proceedings initiated against them. 7. The Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man constitute sources of legal obligation for OAS Member States including the United States. The organs of the international and regional human rights systems have developed jurisprudence that recognizes the rights of children, families, migrants, and refugees and asylum-seekers. International standards protect the right to equality and non-discrimination, the principle of the best interests of the child, the right to personal liberty, humane treatment during detention, due process and access to justice, consular notification, protection of the family and family life, seek and receive asylum, principle of non-refoulement, and the prohibition on collective expulsions. 8. The IACHR stresses that measures taken to securitize the border will not bring these crises to an end. Rather, the underlying factors generating the crises in the principal countries of origin must be comprehensively addressed. This approach must tackle the poverty, economic and gender inequality, multi-sectorial discrimination, and high levels of violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Without national and regional efforts to address such factors, mixed migratory movements will only continue. Without the ability to migrate safely and through more open or regular channels, these persons will be forced to take even more dangerous and clandestine routes in order to bypass increasingly securitized borders. Such new routes increase the likelihood that persons in the context of human mobility will fall victim to violence and exploitation at the hands of organized crime groups. 9. Based on its close analysis of the situation of migrant and refugee unaccompanied children and families arriving to the southern border of the United States of America, in the present report the Inter-American Commission issues a series of recommendations to the State. The IACHR notes and commends the United States for its sustained efforts to receive and resettle thousands of asylum-seekers and refugees from all over the world, year after year. In light of the State's global position as a leader on protecting the rights of persons in need of international protection, it is the IACHR's hope that the conclusions and recommendations contained in this report will assist it in upholding its human rights obligations and its commitment to serve as a refuge for many thousands of persons each year. In this regard, the Commission urges the State to end its practice of automatic and arbitrary immigration detention of families; to treat Mexican unaccompanied children with the same safeguards and procedures applicable to unaccompanied children from non-contiguous countries; to investigate claims of abuses and mistreatment committed by U.S. border agents and to prosecute and punish, where necessary, the agents responsible; to ensure that the best interests of the child principle is the guiding principle in all decisions taken with respect to children, including in immigration proceedings; and to ensure migrant and refugee children and families enjoy due process guarantees and are provided with a lawyer, if needed, at no cost to them if they cannot cover the costs on their own; among other recommendations developed in this report. Details: Washington, DC: The Commission, 2015. 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 30, 2015 at: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/Refugees-Migrants-US.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/Refugees-Migrants-US.pdf Shelf Number: 137185 Keywords: Immigrant ChildrenImmigration EnforcementMigrant ChildrenRefugeesUndocumented Immigrants |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: Closed Doors: Mexico's Failure to Protect Central American Refugee and Migrant Children Summary: Tens of thousands of children flee Central America's Northern Triangle - El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras - each year, on their own or with family members, because they have been pressured to join local gangs, threatened with sexual violence and exploitation, held for ransom, subjected to extortion, or suffer domestic violence. Mexican law provides for refugee protection for children and adults who face persecution or other threats to their lives and safety in their home countries. Even so, less than 1 percent of the children who are apprehended by Mexican immigration authorities are recognized as refugees. Closed Doors examines the reasons for this gulf between the need for protection and Mexico's low refugee recognition rates, detailing the formidable obstacles children face in even applying for recognition. Immigration agents frequently fail to inform them of their rights and do not adequately screen them for possible refugee claims. They do not receive state-appointed lawyers or other government assistance in preparing applications for refugee recognition. More dauntingly, most are held in prison-like conditions, leading many children to accept deportation to avoid protracted time in detention. The report concludes with specific steps Mexico should take to address these shortcomings. Mexican authorities should ensure that children have effective access to refugee recognition procedures and end immigration detention of children; and they should provide appropriate care and protection for unaccompanied migrant children by identifying the housing arrangements that are most consistent with their best interests. Details: New York: HRW, 2016. 164p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 7, 2016 at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/mexico0316web_0.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Mexico URL: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/mexico0316web_0.pdf Shelf Number: 139305 Keywords: AsylumHuman RightsImmigrant ChildrenImmigrationRefugeesUnaccompanied Children |
Author: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) Title: European legal and policy framework on immigration detention of children Summary: Children have represented up to a third of migrant arrivals in the European Union (EU) since the summer of 2015. Upon arrival, they need and have a right to protection, in line with EU and international law. Detaining children for migration management or asylum reasons - with or without family members - is difficult to justify, practically very challenging to implement in line with fundamental rights and clearly not in the child's best interests. Current efforts to speed up asylum processing and make returns more effective may prompt an increased use of immigration detention, possibly also affecting children. This can entail serious risks of violating children's right to liberty and security if the strict safeguards protecting children from arbitrary detention are disregarded. Children should be placed in open centres that provide for the necessary protection and care to which they are entitled, and which promote their best interests. This report takes the rights of the child to protection and care set forth in Article 24 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights as a starting point when examining the content of the right to liberty and security. It outlines the main fundamental rights safeguards provided for in EU and human rights law to prevent unlawful and arbitrary detention. It also describes practical examples from the Member States, drawing on promising practices wherever possible. In so doing, it aims to assist asylum and migration practitioners in implementing policies in line with the law, so that immigration detention of children ends or becomes truly exceptional. Details: Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2017. 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 9, 2017 at: http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2017/child-migrant-detention Year: 2017 Country: Europe URL: http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2017/child-migrant-detention Shelf Number: 147173 Keywords: Asylum SeekersImmigrant ChildrenImmigrant DetentionImmigration DetentionUndocumented Children |
Author: Pew Research Center Title: Shifting Public Views on Legal Immigration into the U.S.: Many Unaware that Most Immigrants in the U.S. are Here Illegally Summary: While there has been considerable attention on illegal immigration into the U.S. recently, opinions about legal immigration have undergone a long-term change. Support for increasing the level of legal immigration has risen, while the share saying legal immigration should decrease has fallen. The survey by Pew Research Center, conducted June 5-12 among 2,002 adults, finds that 38% say legal immigration into the United States should be kept at its present level, while 32% say it should be increased and 24% say it should be decreased. Since 2001, the share of Americans who favor increased legal immigration into the U.S. has risen 22 percentage points (from 10% to 32%), while the share who support a decrease has declined 29 points (from 53% to 24%). The shift is mostly driven by changing views among Democrats. The share of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents who say legal immigration into the U.S. should be increased has doubled since 2006, from 20% to 40%. Growing share of Democrats support increased legal immigration into the U.S.Republicans' views also have changed, though more modestly. The share of Republicans and Republican leaners who say legal immigration should be decreased has fallen 10 percentage points since 2006, from 43% to 33%. Still, about twice as many Republicans (33%) as Democrats (16%) support cutting legal immigration into the U.S. The new survey, which was largely conducted before the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border involving immigrant children being separated from their parents, finds deep and persistent partisan divisions in a number of attitudes toward immigrants, as well as widespread misperceptions among the public overall about the share of the immigrant population in the U.S. that is in this country illegally. Details: Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, 2018. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 16, 2019 at: http://www.people-press.org/2018/06/28/shifting-public-views-on-legal-immigration-into-the-u-s/ Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: http://www.people-press.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/06/06-28-2018-Immigration-release.pdf Shelf Number: 154221 Keywords: Illegal ImmigrationImmigrant ChildrenImmigration PolicyLegal ImmigrationPublic AttitudesPublic Opinion |