An Immigration System Built on Children's Rights and Best Interests

On Wednesday, October 28, 2020, the Young Center launched our latest initiative and report “Reimagining Children’s Immigration Proceedings: A Roadmap for an Entirely New System Centered around Children” in an event featuring Young Center Executive Director Maria Woltjen, Child Advocate Program Director Gladis Molina Alt, Policy Director Jennifer Nagda, Advocate for Children and Youth Elvis Garcia Callejas, and Tara Magner from the Chicago Commitment for the MacArthur Foundation.

Reimagining is the culmination of extensive consultation with experts in child protection, child welfare, juvenile justice, child health and development, and international migration. It proposes a fundamentally different process for welcoming children at the border, ensuring their liberty, providing a legitimately fair opportunity to tell their stories and be heard, and to prevent their removal (deportation) unless the government can prove they will be safe.

Supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Reimagining designs an immigration system that welcomes children, protects their rights to be heard, to be with family, to maintain their identity, and to be safe—one that protects their best interests. The report offers a roadmap for an entirely different system built around the needs and capacities of children. It includes recommendations to completely separate matters of custody from the child’s legal case; to shift from a purely adversarial legal system to one modeled on the “case conferences” of family courts; and to prevent the repatriation of children who are unable to win asylum or other forms protection but who do not wish to return until the government proves they will be safe. Read the report here and watch the event video below.