The bill prohibits officials from separating children from their parents for the purpose of deterring immigration and tasks the Department of Homeland Security with using “the best interests of the child” as its guiding principle in decisions about immigrant children.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, D.C., February 19, 2021—Yesterday, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Representative Linda Sanchez (D-CA) introduced the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 on behalf of President Joe Biden. Founder and Executive Director of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights Maria Woltjen released the following statement:

For the first time in our nation’s history, federal legislation would require immigration officials at the border to consider the best interests of the child in their decisions. This commitment is a victory for immigrant children and the Young Center, an organization that has fought to protect the best interests of unaccompanied and separated children for 18 years. The bill would also require training for all DHS personnel who may come into contact with children and ensure licensed medical and child welfare professionals at the border. In direct response to the prior administration’s unprecedented, illegal, and cruel policy of separating families to deter migration, the bill prohibits immigration officials from separating children from their parents for the purpose of enforcing immigration law.

The bill would also take steps toward a more equitable and just immigration system by ensuring every child placed in adversarial deportation proceedings has an attorney, creating a roadmap to citizenship for 11 million undocumented Americans, eliminating the arbitrary and unnecessary one-year deadline for seeking asylum, and increasing protections for survivors of gender-based violence and trafficking.

While the bill does not completely overhaul our unjust immigration system or address some of the greatest needs of migrant children and their families—it fails to provide children and families access to health care and other vital services while seeking status, it increases surveillance of border communities and migrants seeking protection at the border—it is an important step at a critical moment. We look forward to working with Representative Sanchez, Senator Menendez, other legislators, and the Biden-Harris administration to improve upon the bill and find common, bipartisan ground for children and their families.

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The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is a non-profit organization that protects and advances the rights and best interests of immigrant children and advocates for an immigration system that treats children as children first. For press inquiries, please contact Noorjahan Akbar at media@theyoungcenter.org or 202-725-7184.