Today, the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights released “Reimagining Children’s Immigration Proceedings: A Roadmap for an Entirely New System Centered around Children.” With the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the report sets out to reimagine the ways in which the federal government welcomes children at the border and adjudicates their requests to remain permanently in the United States.
Read MoreThe proposed rule threatens the due process rights of children seeking asylum and undermines their ability to seek asylum protections by requiring immigration judges to adjudicate asylum cases in a limited timeframe, with little discretion to grant continuances, and allowing judges to exclude country conditions evidence from non-government sources, which many children introduce to support their claims for asylum.
Read More“Tuesday’s report about the 545 children who remain separated from their parents is one more reminder of this administration’s cruelty to children. The fight for immigrant children's rights and to end family separation is not over. Please join us in demanding that families belong together,” Young Center Executive Director Maria Woltjen said in a statement.
Read MoreAs 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.
Read MoreThe proposed rule, if implemented, would significantly infringe upon the privacy rights of children and their family members, subjecting them to unlawful and unnecessary surveillance.
Read MoreFor more than three years, the administration has systematically and ruthlessly targeted children seeking protection at our borders while repeatedly violating laws enacted by bipartisan governments to protect the most vulnerable migrants. Locking children in hotels so that they could be returned to their countries without a single question about their safety is just the latest example of the government’s callous disregard for children’s safety.
Read MoreFor decades, people fleeing persecution had a fighting chance to find a haven in this country. For many—especially children—asylum has meant the difference between life and death. Today, we are on the cusp of losing our asylum system in its entirety as the Trump administration proposes rule after rule designed to decimate it.
Read MoreBy arbitrarily limiting the time in which children can share their stories, find counsel, develop cases, and pursue appeals, this purposed rule flies in the face of the science and the facts of children’s development, and is an assault on children’s due process rights and antithetical to consideration of their best interests.
Read MoreDespite being one of the fastest growing groups in the United States, the voices and stories of African immigrants are often silenced and sidelined in the discussion about immigration. We held this event to address the issues facing Black and African immigrant families and children served by each of our organizations and tp equip our supporters with information about how they can take action.
Read MoreOn Friday, September 4, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to end its practice of detaining immigrant children in hotel rooms by September 15. However, rather than complying with the judge’s order, DHS is fighting to be able to keep children hidden in hotels, supervised by adults they don’t know, with no access to lawyers, Child Advocates, or child welfare experts. Here is how we’re fighting back.
Read MoreIn a victory for children’s rights, a federal judge ruled last Friday that DHS violated federal law when it apprehended migrant children at the border and detained them in hotels before sending them back to the very danger the children fled weeks or months earlier.
Read MoreOn Friday, August 28, 2020, the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) awarded the Young Center their President’s Award, which “recognizes excellence in advocacy organizations working to advance the legal rights of children and families.” Watch the award ceremony.
Read MoreAt this webinar, front-line advocates from the Young Center and our partner organization Justice in Motion discussed how we’ve changed our work to facilitate children’s safe return during a global pandemic and why it is more important than ever that children's best interests are considered in every decision.
Read More"ICE has the authority to release the families in its custody today, yet the agency continues to traumatize children and parents by keeping them in detention and threatening family separation. With every passing day, they are also unnecessarily at risk of further exposure to COVID. This cannot go on,” said Mary Miller Flowers of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights.
Read MoreThe United States can both protect public health and ensure continued protections for the most vulnerable in our world and is in fact obligated to do so.
Read MoreWhile some countries, like the United States, are using coronavirus as an excuse to close down borders and stop the movement of vulnerable people seeking protection and safety, other countries, such as Greece, Germany, and Portugal, are taking a public health approach.
Read MoreWe created this cocktail on the occasion of our 2020 Be A Waymaker New York Benefit. It is called the Waymaker Cocktail to honor the volunteer Young Center Child Advocates who meet with unaccompanied and separated immigrant children in government custody every week and help us advocate for their rights and best interests. They help create the path to safety for immigrant children. Here’s Oscar-nominated actress and critically acclaimed author Quinn Cummings walking us through the recipe.
Read MoreDuring the next ten days, ICE will pressure parents into giving up their children’s right to liberty or giving up their children’s right to family integrity. That is not a choice—it’s coercion. And during the next ten days, more families will become ill while parents agonize over the likelihood of forced separation from their children.
Read MoreOn Tuesday, July 14, 2020, the Young Center submitted a detailed comment opposing the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security’s proposed changes to the U.S. asylum system. The proposed rule would jeopardize the safety and well-being of children by increasing barriers to their right to seek and win asylum.
Read MoreIn a joint letter from the Young Center, Save the Children Action Network (SCAN), UNICEF USA, and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), we demanded that ICE release families in its custody and prevent further family separation.
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