Four Ways You Can Help Forcibly Separated Immigrant Children Right Now
As more reports unearth the cruelty of the Trump administration's family separation policy, many of you have asked how you can help. Thank you! Here are four ways.
1- Learn more about the issues. Family separation is not over. It didn't start with the Zero Tolerance Policy in 2018 and it didn't end then. The administration “piloted” family separation as early as the summer of 2017, as reported by Lomi Kriel and the Houston Chronicle. More than 1100 children were separated after a court ordered an end to the practice. Today, other policies perpetrate similar separation of families—the “Remain in Mexico” policy that traps family members at the border, even when they have family here; the closing of the border to all asylum-seekers during the pandemic, which has sent thousands of children away without a single question asked. Learn more from our report on family separation and use your knowledge to raise awareness within your community.
2- Volunteer:
Apply to become a Young Center Child Advocate. The Young Center has programs in Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, Harlingen, Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C. Our volunteers meet with immigrant children in federal custody (or virtually) every week and assist Young Center staff in advocating for their best interests. Learn more about and begin the application process to become a volunteer.
If you are fluent in another language, contact a legal services provider in your area to volunteer. There is a particularly strong need for interpreters in Central America’s indigenous languages.
Find an organization in your city through Immigration Nexus’s directory and contact them to see find out how you can help.
3- Advocate for an immigration system that sees and treats children like children. That means no more family separation, no more deporting children to danger, no more denying the legal right to seek safety, no more adversarial courts where children could face government attorneys all on their own, and no more denial of due process through “rocket dockets,” judicial quotas, and “video hearings.” Next Wednesday, we are launching a new initiative, "Reimagining Children’s Immigration Proceedings: A Roadmap for an Entirely New System Centered around Children." Join us for the launch event to learn about how a different system is needed and possible.
4- Donate to the Young Center. Every donation allows us to serve more children, recruit and train more volunteers, provide support to families during this time of tremendous uncertainty and stress, and continue to advocate for an immigration system that treats children as children. The Young Center is the only organization in the United States that provides independent Child Advocates to separated and unaccompanied children in federal custody. Our volunteer Child Advocates meet with children every week to ensure they are not alone, their voices are heard, and their rights and best interests are protected. They help draft recommendations to immigration judges, asylum officers, and deportation officials to ensure government actors think about the child’s best interests in every decision. They help us reunite families and provide critical support to children as they seek legal relief. Click here to support this work. Thank you for making our work possible.