Children's Rights Groups File Supreme Court Amicus Brief Telling the Stories of Children Harmed by “Remain in Mexico”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, D.C., January 27, 2021— Last week, a coalition of immigrant and children’s rights organizations including the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, Kids in Need of Defense, Angry Tias and Abuelas of the Rio Grande Valley, Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Children’s Defense Fund, First Focus on Children, Save the Children Action Network, and Save the Children, with support from the firm Milbank LLP, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in opposition to the Trump administration’s so-called Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as the Remain in Mexico policy, focusing on the harm to children caused by MPP.

For more than two years, MPP has trapped more than 70,000 people, including tens of thousands of children in dangerous conditions in northern Mexico while they await hearings on their asylum claims. The children and families subjected to the program not only fled violence in their own countries but as homeless migrants in Mexico face new threats to their safety, including murder, kidnapping, and sexual violence. MPP has caused profound harm to the physical and mental health and well-being of children, including trauma. 

On January 20, 2021, the Biden-Harris administration suspended new enrollments in MPP, but thousands of families and children remain in MPP, stranded and forced to brave threats of violence and dangerous conditions in Mexico in order to pursue their asylum claims.

The amicus brief tells the stories of children like 17-year-old Ana, who fled sexual violence in Honduras but who was forced by U.S. border officials to return to Mexico under MPP. Ana was expected to tell her story in a tent court erected at the U.S. border, without an attorney or child advocate at her side. An immigration judge—who knew nothing about her— ordered her deported to Honduras to the same adults who’d abused her and the same police who’d ignored her pleas for help. Another child who shared his story for the brief is six-year-old Oscar, who was separated for months from his mother and younger brother at the border, because U.S. Customs and Border Patrol arbitrarily decided to permit his mother and brother to enter but to return Oscar and his father to Mexico. While in Mexico under MPP, Oscar’s father was kidnapped and held ransom by a cartel.

Leaders from each of the organizations that joined together to tell these stories released the following statements about the amicus brief, the need to end MPP for all immigrants, and the need for an asylum system that accounts for the specific needs and vulnerabilities of children:

“MPP has caused tremendous harm to the health and wellbeing of tens of thousands of immigrant children, including danger, violence, persecution, trauma, illness, family separation, and a process that denies them their fundamental right to be heard. Our brief centers their stories and their lived experiences in order to illustrate the harm that children and families in MPP have suffered and continue to suffer. Each child’s willingness to share their story as part of this brief demonstrates their resilience and strength despite this inhumane and illegal policy,” said Young Center Senior Litigation Attorney Jane Liu. “We must continue to advocate for an end to MPP for all immigrants and for the development of immigration policies that ensure the best interests of children.”

“MPP was a historic assault on our values as a nation and on the foundation on which this country was built. While the Biden Administration has rightly suspended new registrations, it must ensure that those who have been waiting in dangerous and even life-threatening situations, including young children, receive a fair chance at U.S. protection and due process. The pain and suffering this policy has caused cannot be underestimated. Those waiting in Mexico for their MPP cases should be allowed to wait for their court hearing safely in the United States,” said Kids in Need of Defense President Wendy Young.

“We are proud to work alongside Young Center and other dedicated organizations in opposition to the Migrant Protection Protocols,” said Milbank partner Mark Shinderman, who led the Milbank pro bono team. “These unlawful policies forcing asylum-seeking children to await their immigration hearings in Mexico are clear violations of federal law and international treaties, and blatantly deny the fundamental right to due process. We urge the Supreme Court to end MPP for the thousands of families and children who remain subjected to this damaging program.”

"The MPP program was never passed by Congress and violates domestic and international law. It has created a horror show here at the border, locking families into a drug war zone where 50 to 80% have suffered armed attacks," said Jennifer Harbury Co-Founder of Angry Tias and Abuelas of the Rio Grande Valley.

“Children, regardless of their nationality or immigration status, have universally defined rights, including a right to family, a right to safety and a right to be free from violence. MPP is a clear example of U.S. immigration policy violating these rights and causing harm to children,” said Katherine Kaufka Walts, Director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago.

"The Migrant Protection Protocols subject children to needless danger and trauma. Separating children from their families violates the core principle of family unity that must be woven into the moral fabric of our society. The continued use of MPP represents our failure as a nation to live up to our stated values and a failure to fulfill our legal obligations to children who seek safety and protection at our borders,” said Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, President and CEO, Children’s Defense Fund.

“Children and families seeking protection at our border should be provided a safe place to stay, have access to lawyers, and be able to remain together as they seek asylum,” said Miriam Abaya, Senior Director for Immigration and Children’s Rights at First Focus on Children. “The Remain in Mexico policy denies children all of these things — it has put children directly in harm’s way, denied them due process, and subjected them to actual or possible separation from their families. This is a flagrant violation of our laws and American values and must end.”

“We applaud the Biden administration for suspending new enrollments in MPP, but more action is necessary to protect children. As evidenced by the heart-wrenching stories in this amicus brief, thousands of children and families are still trapped in dangerous conditions in Mexico. We sincerely hope the Supreme Court takes these stories – and the rights of children – into consideration and ends MPP once and for all,” said Mark Shriver, President of Save the Children Action Network. “We, as a nation, possess the knowledge and capacity to properly, carefully and legally process these vulnerable families, ensuring their safety and protection, all while working to end this prolonged humanitarian crisis. Now is the time.”

 “MPP is a grave violation of children’s rights and shamefully delivers punishment rather than protection,” said Betsy Zorio, Vice President of U.S. Programs and Advocacy at Save the Children. “For more than a century, Save the Children has protected the rights of children around the world and we will continue to provide programs and use our voice and stand up for kids. Children – no matter where they are from – deserve to be safe.”

To read the stories of some of the children impacted by MPP, click here.

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MEDIA CONTACTS

Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, Noorjahan Akbar, media@theyoungcenter.org, (202) 725-7184

Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Megan McKenna, mmckenna@supportkind.org, (202) 631-9990

Milbank, LLP, Jocelyn De Carvalho, JDeCarvalho@milbank.com, (212) 530-5509

Angry Tias and Abuelas of the Rio Grande Valley, Jennifer Harbury, jharbury@gmail.com

Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago, Kristi Turnbaugh, kturnbaugh@luc.edu

Children’s Defense Fund, Emily Gardner, egardner@childrensdefense.org, (804) 519-5915

First Focus on Children, Michele Kayal, michelek@firstfocus.org, 703-919-8778

Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) Suzanne Arnold, sarnold@savechildren.org, (609) 610-4957

Save the Children., Sara Luciano, sLuciano@savechildren.org, (203) 209-6545