Coalition Letter Urging Co-Sponsorship of S121, the Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act of 2001

COALITION IN SUPPORT
OF THE
UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHILD PROTECTION ACT

February 26, 2002

Dear Senator:

We, the undersigned organizations, write to ask you to cosponsor S. 121, the Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act of 2001, introduced by Senators Dianne Feinstein and Bob Graham.

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 are asylum seekers who have experienced persecution against themselves or their family members and seek protection, while others have been smuggled into the country by traffickers of human beings and are at risk of being caught again by smugglers and forced into sweatshop labor or worse. Some of these children are victims of neglect, abuse, or abandonment.

Upon apprehension by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), these children are placed in detention, often without access to an attorney or opportunities for education, contact with family members, religious volunteer visits or services, or trips outside the facility. They also can be subject to punitive treatment, such as handcuffing, shackling, or, in some cases, solitary confinement. Last year alone, nearly 2,000 children were placed in juvenile detention facilities and commingled with youthful offenders who have committed violent crimes.

Because of little access to legal assistance, these children are unable to avail themselves of asylum relief. Without such assistance, they are returned to their home country and again subjected to human rights abuses.

S. 121 would enact several reforms in how our nation addresses the problems affecting unaccompanied children. First, it would create a separate office devoted to children services within the Department of Justice. It would require the appointment of legal counsel and guardians ad litem (friend of the child) for each child to ensure that their best interests are served. It also would provide clear guidelines for the standard of care for these children, ensuring that unaccompanied children are housed in appropriate shelter or with foster families if their own families are unable to care for them.

S. 121 would ensure that the rights of all unaccompanied children are protected and that the principle of the best interest of the child is upheld in all cases.

We ask for your co-sponsorship of this important legislation.

Sincerely,

Africa Action
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
American Civil Liberties Union
American Immigration Lawyers Association
American Jewish Committee
American Psychiatric Association
Anti-Defamation League
Bethany Christian Services
B’nai B’rith International
Catholic Charities Community and Immigrant Services, Honolulu, Hawaii
Catholic Charities of Orange County, California
Catholic Charities, Diocese of Santa Rosa, California
Catholic Charities USA
Catholic Social Services, Atlanta, Georgia
Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Child Welfare League of America
Children’s Defense Fund
Church World Service
Citizens and Immigrants for Equal Justice
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
Covenant House
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, Inc.
General Board of Church & Society, The United Methodist Church
Heartland Refugee Resettlement
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Inc.
Human Rights Watch
Immigrant Legal Resource Center, San Francisco, California
Immigrant Rights and Public Interest Legal Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
Immigration and Refugee Services of America
Jesuit Refugee Services/USA
Lawyer’s Committee for Human Rights
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Legal Services for Children, San Francisco, California
Lutheran Children and Family Service of Eastern Pennsylvania
Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services
Lutheran Social Services of New England, Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program
Lutheran Social Services of Washington, DC
Massachusetts Law Reform Institute
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center, Chicago, Illinois
Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights
Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, Utica, New York
National Association of Social Workers
National Coalition for Haitian Rights
National Council of La Raza
National Immigration Forum
North Texas Immigration Coalition
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Seattle, Washington
Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center
Presbyterian Church USA, Washington Office
School Social Work Association of America
Suffolk University Law School Juvenile Justice Center
The Fund for Immigrants and Refugees
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Union of American Hebrew Congregations Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, Washington Office for Faith in Action
Voices for Immigrant Justice
Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs World Relief
Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children