Featured Stories
Exciting News on CIR and Immigrant Children
This is a week for celebration at the Young Center. On May 20th the Senate Judiciary Committee considered and adopted amendments to Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR), which the Young Center has supported as it relates to unaccompanied immigrant children. What’s more, Senator Grassley held back an amendment that would have… Learn More
NPR Features Young Center’s Namesake, Young Zheng Sullivan on The Afternoon Shift
Illegal border crossings into the U.S. have been in decline overall, but the number of children seized by border control has nearly tripled in recent years. Many unaccompanied children end up in Chicago, where agencies are scrambling to handle the load. WBEZ’s North Side bureau reporter Odette Yousef and Maria… Learn More
Dan Dan's Story
In 2008, Young Center clinic student Jajah Wu was assigned as a Child Advocate to Dan Dan, a 16 year-old unaccompanied girl from China. Over the four months that Dan Dan was detained in Chicago, Jajah met weekly with her and learned her story. Dan Dan had survived a harrowing… Learn More
The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights pays tribute to the children we serve by naming the organization after one of our first clients, Young Zheng, a young man from China who was smuggled by ruthless traffickers at the age of 14, and expected to work off a debt of $60,000. In fear for his life, Young endured more than two years of detention and legal battles to remain in the U.S. All the while, his Child Advocate stood by him, advocated for his release and against deportation. Young Zheng has finished college, was granted citizenship, and has been accepted in the biotechnology program at Texas A&M University. He has graciously lent his name to this organization.
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NPR Features Young Center’s Namesake, Young Zheng Sullivan on The Afternoon Shift
June 4, 2013 Illegal border crossings into the U.S. have been in decline overall, but the number of children seized by…
Undocumented and alone, young immigrants land in Chicago
June 3, 2013 The Young Center’s Director, Maria Woltjen, speaks to WBEZ about some of the challenges unaccompanied minors face. You…
The Young Center quoted in Newsweek's The Daily Beast
April 11, 2013 Undocumented Kids Crossing the U.S. Border Alone in Increasing Numbers
Illegal immigration may be down, but the number…