“Part of our effort to fight for justice for these children and their families requires us all to recognize the ways our country’s immigration policy increasingly values “curbing” immigration more than protecting human life. “
A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
June 2024
As we near almost 20 years of the Young Center’s vital advocacy to advance and protect immigrant children’s rights, I am inspired by the ways our community has come together in 2023 to strategically map our plans to deepen the Young Center’s impact and truly live out our values in the immediate years to come. Together, alongside the Young Center’s Board of Directors, we crafted a 5-Year Strategic Plan that not only sets forth our big picture visions, goals and aspirations, but also tangible ways we will enhance our support for children between now and 2027 that are critically grounded in our values of courage, equity and justice, child-centeredness, accompaniment, and community.
This past year was marked by critical efforts to formalize organizational partnerships that ensure our support for children extends beyond just their time in federal custody. After officially launching our Technical Assistance Program only a year ago in late 2022, our team sprang into action, investing in relationships with leading organizations outside the immigrant advocacy spaces, such as Casey Family Programs and Seneca Family of Agencies, whose substantive areas of practice intersect with immigrant children. Through this allyship and collective advocacy, we continue to ground the Young Center as one element in a larger ecosystem that is working together to ensure immigrant children and their families receive holistic support.
In 2023, we also proudly introduced a new pilot initiative —led by our team of strategic communications experts — that invests in creative, ethical, and safe storytelling initiatives in which immigrant children can engage. Our Ethical Storytelling Pilot is rooted not only in our commitment to honor immigrant children’s voices but also in our responsibility to create tangible opportunities for children to share about their lives, experiences, and stories in their own words.
There is no doubt that these were major accomplishments in 2023; and while we celebrate these extraordinary strides forward, we are also holding space to show up for one another and our partners through immense grief. The tragic deaths of Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez, Jismary Alejandra Barboza Gonzalez, Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza –only some of the immigrant children who died in 2023– were the fatal consequence of our nation’s increasingly restrictive immigration policies that continue to make it more dangerous for individuals, families, and children to seek safety in the U.S. Whether it´s inside border facilities like the one in which Anadith passed away, or inside the mass charter buses on which Texas has cruelly placed families, including Jismary and her mother, children and their loved ones have faced deadly conditions without access to essential human services, including proper medical care.
Part of our effort to fight for justice for these children and their families requires us all to recognize the ways our country’s immigration policy increasingly values “curbing” immigration more than protecting human life. When we come together to acknowledge this and share in the sorrow and grief of this work, we also create opportunities for us to see ourselves as part of a much more expansive community that can lean on each other and fuel one another in the pursuit of justice. Immigrant children, as we know, exist in and are impacted by a much bigger ecosystem than just federal custody.
The challenges they experienced before and the hurdles they will experience after custody require solutions rooted in community. The partnerships we have fostered over this year and the intersectional work we will undoubtedly engage in in the years to come will ensure that immigrant children, no matter where they land, are met with the care, compassion, and tenderness they deserve.
With Gratitude,
Gladis Molina Alt
Executive Director
2023 BY THE NUMBERS
With your support in 2023, we served 1,598 children from 48 different nationalities facing deportation across 21 states. 335 of the children we worked with were under 12-years-old and 479 were at risk of being transferred to adult detention.
OUR IMPACT
ANA’S STORY
We served as Child Advocates for a five-year-old child, Ana* from Central America. Ana traveled with her mother to the U.S. to reunite with her father. They spent three months in Mexico before they attempted to cross the border, and when they did, they were forced to separate. Just as they tried to enter the U.S., a man threatened to harm them. Ana’s mother made the extremely difficult decision to separate from Ana in order to get Ana away from him. Ana crossed alone, was apprehended and designated as an unaccompanied immigrant child, and placed in ORR. When Ana’s mother finally arrived in the U.S., Ana’s father drove to reunite with her. On their drive back to the family’s home state, the police stopped the couple, and immigration officials deported them back to Central America.
Once Ana learned her parents were in Central America, she made her wishes clear to return home to them. Through our safety assessment, we built a strong rapport with her mother and father, which allowed us to gather critical information about Ana and her mother’s journey to the U.S., information about her parents’ location, and their wishes for Ana. Anxious to reunite with Ana, her father returned to the U.S. and began ORR’s reunification process; however, despite his efforts to secure employment and housing, the reunification process presented additional challenges to him as a newly arrived immigrant. We connected with Ana’s mother again and learned both parents agreed it was best for Ana to reunify with her father as soon as possible. The information we gathered through our safety assessment informed our advocacy in support of Ana’s release to her father. After 143 days of separation, Ana finally reunified with her father and is doing well.
GABI’S* STORY
Over a year ago, TAP began consulting on a child welfare case centered on a Honduran grandmother’s fight for custody of her 3-year-old grandson, Sam*. When TAP first connected with Gabi*, the grandmother, it had been over a year since she had seen Sam, despite helping to raise him for the first year of his life. When his parents brought him to the U.S. to seek safety, Gabi remained in their home country but kept tabs on his development through regular video calls and photo updates. All of that changed when Sam was removed from his mother’s care and placed in a foster home.
Sam’s foster parents have made clear that if they can adopt him, they will not permit contact between Sam and his biological family, including Gabi. Gabi is now in the U.S. as an asylum seeker and fighting an extraordinarily uphill battle to adopt Sam. If Gabi does not prevail, Sam will grow up separated from family members, estranged from his culture and community. TAP wants to ensure that doesn’t happen.
Since connecting with Gabi, TAP found a family law attorney to represent her, and our Director of Policy and Litigation is serving as co-counsel on Gabi’s case. In partnership with other immigrant advocacy organizations, we helped Gabi relocate to New York. The organization Each Step Home paid for her relocation costs and identified a host for her upon arriving in New York. Each Step Home also assigned Gabi a case manager with whom TAP continues to coordinate. TAP has supported Gabi’s efforts, with her attorney, to obtain court-ordered visitation with Sam, and in the fall of 2023, Gabi had her first in-person visit with Sam in 15 months. TAP has also worked with a child psychology forensic expert to support Gabi’s efforts to win custody of Sam
2023 PROGRAM ACHIEVEMENTS
CHILD ADVOCACY PROGRAM
Our Child Advocate Program (CAP) provides independent Child Advocates to unaccompanied and separated children in federal detention (under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement –ORR) and after their release. Our Child Advocates accompany children while they remain in detention, separated from their families, and as they face immigration proceedings. We serve survivors of persecution, trafficking, abuse, and other crimes; particularly young children; pregnant and parenting youth; children and youth with complex medical conditions or disabilities; children at risk of turning 18 while in custody; and other particularly vulnerable youth.
Throughout 2023, CAP worked with over 120 children who were referred to us because they likely experienced trafficking in their home countries or on their journeys to the US. Additionally, the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) issued new guidance that formally recognizes the role of Child Advocates in immigration court. The guidance affirms the role of Child Advocates to accompany children to all immigration courts and to advocate for their best interests on issues before the court.
POLICY PROGRAM
The Young Center’s policy team worked on a wide range of issues impacting children in 2023:
Advocacy Results in ORR Policy Change that Grant Children Daily Phone Calls with Family:
For years, CAP advocated for children to have more telephone and video contact with family. After examining the issue with CAP staff, our Policy team authored a report in 2022 documenting how ORR facilities limit the amount of phone time children have to speak with family to the so-called “minimum” of two 10-minute calls per week. This limited contact with family can cause great stress and anxiety in children and their loved ones. Our report recommended children have unlimited contact with family, or at a minimum, that ORR ensure children have guaranteed 30 minutes of daily contact with family, preferably by video. As such, in June 2023, ORR announced a formal policy change ensuring children have a right to daily contact with family and a preference for video calls whenever possible.
Exposure of Punitive Policy Leads to Change in SIR Policy In late 2022, we released another report, which illustrates the treatment of children in ORR facilities and the over-use of significant incident reports (SIRs). SIRs are forms ORR has used to document incidents from disclosures of past abuse to minor rule infractions or behavioral challenges. As a result of this report, in June 2023, ORR announced a revised SIR policy incorporating many of our recommendations. There is still work to do, but this policy win for children, particularly children with disabilities, would not have happened without our reporting and advocacy.
Securing Greater Protections for Children with Disabilities We successfully challenged ORR’s efforts to bring on new secure providers by organizing more than 35 disability rights, child rights, and juvenile justice organizations to sign a letter detailing the harms of secure custody for youth.
Comments on a Proposed Regulation to Govern Children’s Care & Custody In 2023, our Policy team devoted significant efforts to influence a new regulation governing children’s care in custody. This regulation known as the “ORR Foundational Rule” will replace the majority of the Flores Settlement Agreement, which sets standards of care for children in federal custody and requires independent oversight of ORR.
Advancing Reproductive Justice for Youth: We partnered with other advocacy organizations to draft and submit a joint comment focused specifically on recommendations to improve proposed regulations that address the treatment and rights of pregnant and parenting youth in ORR. Over 90 organizations and academics from the immigrant rights, reproductive rights, health and justice, juvenile justice, and disability rights spaces signed onto the comment.
Identifying Stronger Protections for LGBTQIA+ Children: We also led a comment advocating for ORR to include regulations in the Foundational Rule that address the unique needs and issues faced by LGBTQIA+ youth in government custody. More than 50 organizations and academics signed the comment. To our knowledge, it was the first comment that has ever been submitted to ORR that focuses on advancing the needs and rights of LGBTQIA+ youth in ORR custody.
Influencing Congressional Decision-Making: The Young Center is a trusted adviser on a range of key policy issues impacting children and collaborated with Congressional offices 142 times in 2023, a record high for our Policy Team. When the nation confronted critical inflection points on policy choices, and actions to limit the exploitation of migrant child labor, Members of Congress proactively reached out to us for education, technical assistance, and advice.
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
Our Technical Assistance Program (TAP) was created to advance the rights and best interests of immigrant/non-citizen youth involved in child welfare and other state court proceedings. TAP’s goal is to help ensure immigrant children and non-citizen youth involved in child welfare and other state court systems have equitable access to legal relief, well-being, and connection to family, language, and culture. TAP is subcontracted by Seneca Family of Agencies to provide support to attorneys and service providers working with families separated under the Trump administration’s Zero Tolerance policy. In 2023, TAP assisted with 61 cases.
In June, TAP also secured a partnership with Casey Family Programs (CFP). CFP works in all 50 states and is the nation’s largest operating foundation focused on safely reducing the need for foster care in the U.S. This partnership brings together both organizations’ resources and knowledge for mutual benefit to evaluate and fine-tune TAP’s data collection and evaluation processes and to further hone TAP’s strategies for effecting positive systemic change in the child welfare system on behalf of immigrant children and families.
SAFE REPATRIATION PROGRAM
Our immigration laws and policies overwhelmingly favor government officials trying to deport children over children’s safety. Over the years, this imbalance of power has led to many immigrant children being sent back to the very dangers they fled.
Our Safe Repatriation work attempts to intervene during these life-altering processes to ensure key decision-makers in a child’s case understand all the available information about a child’s safety, culture, and family before making a decision about repatriation. Our work strives for an immigration system that is equitable and just for all children and relies heavily on our ability to build community with international partners who are equally committed to our mission and the safety of the children we serve.
In 2023, our safe repatriation team worked on dozens of cases for children from across the world. They completed 67 safety assessments and consultations for children who wanted to return but who may have faced safety concerns, or who were at risk of returning against their will to their countries of origin. In some of these assessments, we conducted detailed international home studies. In other cases, we collaborated with partner organizations to gather supporting documents or information for the child’s case. This work allowed Child Advocates to recommend a variety of child-specific safeguards for children returning to their countries, including join repatriation with family members, travel during daylight hours, and travel with officials who can meet the children’s needs or speak children’s primary language. The work also supported BIDs that argued for children to remain
WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR VOLUNTEERS
Our work is possible thanks to the compassionate and generous support of Volunteer Child Advocates around the country who donate thousands of hours to accompany children as they face immigration proceedings. Below is a list of the volunteers who consented to share their names in this report. We are immensely grateful to every volunteer.
Aisha A Ghori Ozaki, Alexandra Sasha Fyre, Alondra Vasquez, Andrea Cordero, Angel Diaz, Anika Kazi, Ariela Rosenstein, Ayah Hamza, Becky Teiwes, Brittany Gilroy, Caitlyn A. Roxbury, Carrie Scott, Catherine Ortiz, Cecilia Najera, Chirlie Y. Felix, Corinne Kentor, Debbie Goldberg, Denise Ramirez, Dhara Bhakta, Dulce Romero, Elisa Sipols, Elyssa Sapia, Emily A. Hunsberger, Emily Rosen, Emma Kemler, Erica Sagrans, Fabia Mirick Yazaki, Farnoush Tooma-Morvarid, Fulya Degirmenci, Gabriela Atkinson, Gabriela Arellano, Gabriela Villalobos, Georgina Valverde, Gina Hansen, Harlinah Katz Lopez, Hoomai Sayed, Isyemille Lara, Itzel Morales, Jacqueline Alcántara, Jaime Garcia Alba, Jennifer Baquedano, Jennifer Torres, Jessica Logan, Joe Pearson, Johanna Afshani, Judy Gordon, Kailtin Decker, Karen Linares, Karen Michelle Zapata Herrera, Kathy Armstrong, Kelly Chicoma, Kimya Forouzan, Laura Lehman, Laura Amortegui, Liuska Rincon, Lois McGuire, Lorna Solis, Magda Rodriguez, Marcelo Cueva, Margot Stueber, Maria Carolina Tovar, Maria Teresa Garreton, Maria Conroy, Marina Quintanilla, Maritza M. Pozo, Mary Beth Davis, Maryam Zand, Marya Cardenas, Meghan Marx, Melissa Ludington, Michelle Veliz Vargas, Michelle Duffy, Mindy Martinez, Mohammad Hooshmand, Naddia Garcia Wiklund, Nancy Hirschhorn, Nathaliee Pierroz, Nina Friedman, Noorjahan Akbar, Oghay Kherzai, Parto Jalili, Paulina Leon Trevino, Penny Fearon, Rachel Miller, Rachel Thune Real, Raj Chetty, Robin Subar, Roger Ted Johnson, S. Shane Snelson, Sandra T. Chang, Sapna Advani, Sara Poursafar, Sara Ajamian, Sarah Nelson, Shahira Asadi-Popal, Shiva Sobhani, Sonia Fragoso, Stephine Peña, Stephanie Ruiz Morales, Tal Gonzalez, Tatiana Scripnic, Taylor Lifka, Thomas P. Valenti, Tom Sanchez, Valentina Elena Bonciu, Vanessa Garcia, Vatsala Kumar, Vincent Corbett, Wanda Baker, Yessenia Cardona, and Zoe Couacaud.
The Young Center’s work for unaccompanied and separated immigrant children is made possible largely by the contributions of tens of thousands of passionate supporters. Thank you for supporting us in this urgent work.