Statement to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on COVID-19 and Protections for Immigrant Children in the United States

On Friday, June 12, 2020, Young Center Policy Analyst Miriam Abaya testified before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on how the U.S. government’s policies during COVID-19 have impacted immigrant children seeking protection at the border. In her testimony, Abaya spoke about the undeniable harm caused by the Remain in Mexico program and by the government’s decision to close the border to everyone seeking safety, including unaccompanied children. Read Abaya’s testimony below.

Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to address you today. My name is Miriam Abaya and I am speaking on behalf of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. Our mission is to promote the best interests of immigrant children according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and United States law. We do this in our role as independent Child Advocate for unaccompanied and separated immigrant children, and by advocating for policies that ensure consideration of children’s best interests in immigration proceedings.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States has repeatedly acted to undermine the best interests—particularly the health, safety and liberty—of immigrant children.

First, during the pandemic, the U.S. has deported unaccompanied children who were previously in its Remain in Mexico program, but who returned to the United States alone fleeing danger in the refugee encampments in Mexico. The Young Center has been appointed to dozens of children like a 16-year-old child know by her initials as AMPV, who fled familial sexual violence and death threats in her home country. The government made a choice to deport AMPV and children like her without a fair hearing, in the middle of the pandemic, knowing full well they had no safe place to return. These deportations violate United States law and international law. We urge the United States to both stop these deportations and end the Remain in Mexico program, which has endangered the lives of countless children and families, particularly in the midst of the pandemic.

Secondly, the United States is using COVID-19 as cover to execute its long-standing goal of shutting the border to unaccompanied children and asylum seekers. Thus far, the U.S. has expelled over 2000 unaccompanied children. Some children have waited for days in border facilities inappropriate for children, or in hotel rooms alone with adult law enforcement officials, before they are expelled. During this pandemic, there is no oversight of what happens to these children in our government’s care. In turning these children away, the government makes no inquiry about whether these children have a parent or caregiver available to receive them in home country, or whether they are returning to a persecutor or trafficker. This blanket policy is clearly illegal and violates the United States’ obligation of non-refoulement and U.S. laws that provide specific substantive and procedural protections for unaccompanied children. We call on the United States to reverse this policy and consider the best interests of immigrant children in all its policies. Thank you.