FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Friday, January 5, 2024 

Media Contact: media@theyoungcenter.org 

Washington D.C.— Just before the new year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released guidance for all judges overseeing children’s cases in immigration court. The guidance, specifically announced by the DOJ’s Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) which oversees all immigration courts, reflects more than a decade of advocacy by the Young Center and other organizations to fundamentally change the courtrooms in which children carry the burden to prove, without the guarantee of an attorney, that they are eligible for protection in the United States.   

Read here the Young Center’s report: Reimagining Children’s Immigration Proceedings: A Roadmap for an Entirely New System Centered Around Children.   

Notably, the guidance requires children’s cases to be heard at separate dates and times from cases of unrelated adults; directs immigration judges to implement simple, child-friendly procedures such as allowing young children to bring a book or quiet toy to court or allowing the child to testify somewhere other than the witness stand; gives children time to establish understanding and rapport with an interpreter before the proceeding starts; and directs judges to consider how the child’s age impacts their ability to understand what is happening.   

Jennifer Nagda, Chief Program Officer at the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, said: 

"Immigration courtrooms and proceedings are overwhelmingly complex, stressful, and confusing environments for children. For years, the Young Center and other child welfare experts have advocated for a wholescale reimagination of immigration proceedings for children in which judges consider and prioritize each child’s best interests—their wishes, their safety and health, and rights to family unity and freedom from detention.  

The EOIR’s memorandum is a critical step towards fundamentally changing the way children interact with our nation’s immigration courts. The memorandum makes clear that all immigration judges ‘have a duty to consider’ the expertise and child-centered recommendations of our Child Advocates and also recognizes that children are not miniature adults. They are children and must be treated as such. Immigration judges now have explicit guidance for how to tailor court proceedings to be more child-friendly, including more technical guidance on how to ensure children are not punished or further traumatized for things that are often out of their control, including, for instance, when a child misses their first hearing, which would often result in an automatic deportation order. The changes reflected in this memo are nothing short of life-altering and get us another step closer to ensuring all immigrant children are treated as children in every step of their immigration proceedings.” 

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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 Anabel Mendoza at media@theyoungcenter.org