On Tuesday, June 22, Young Center staff, volunteers, and supporters gathered for a webinar on the organization's fight to protect the best interests of children facing deportation. At the webinar, Young Center staff from around the country discussed our best interests advocacy in court, our fight to get a “best interests mandate” into federal law and policy, and how anyone can join our effort to reimagine the immigration system.

"It is difficult for most of us to comprehend the trauma that many of these children have experienced even before leaving their home countries, and then on their long journeys to the United States. A parent must feel so much desperation and fear in order to send their child on a long dangerous trip to the border."-Young Center Board Member Simone Tseng

This month, the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights called on the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants to fully investigate the U.S. government’s application of Title 42, a policy that expels asylum-seekers under the guise of protecting public health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Biden administration inherited a disaster. For years, the Trump administration villainized immigrant children, kept them in government custody, and incarcerated their parents and sponsors. Thousands of children unlawfully turned away at our border by the Trump administration—without any inquiry about their safety—are returning to again seek protection. Others continue to flee extraordinary violence in their countries. Here are our recommendations for protecting unaccompanied children at the border.

On Thursday, May 13, 2021, Young Center supporters, staff, volunteers, and ambassadors gathered online to celebrate the courage and resilience of immigrant children. We honored our very first Waymaker: Founder and Executive Director Maria Woltjen, who will be retiring at the end of June after 18 years of passionately fighting for unaccompanied immigrant children and changing the system to integrate child protection principles into practice, policy, and the law. We are so thankful to everyone who participated in the event and made it a success. In case you missed this inspiring evening, you can watch the highlights in the video below.

Today, the Young Center’s Board of Directors announced that it has selected Gladis Molina Alt as organization’s next executive director. Our Founder and Executive Director Maria Woltjen is retiring at the end of June after 18 years at the helm of the organization.

Thursday, April 29, marks the 100th day of the Biden-Harris administration. During this time, the administration has taken significant steps towards welcoming unaccompanied immigrant children to the United States, but there is still no federal law requiring every agency to consider children’s best interests in every decision.

The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare a reality abundantly clear to unaccompanied children: prolonged detention in congregate settings endangers their health. No child should spend more than a few days, or at most a week, in congregate care when they have family with whom they can live or quality foster care homes.

The prevailing narrative is that there’s a new crisis taking place at our borders. But the recent arrival of children seeking safety at our borders is neither new nor unexpected.

On Tuesday, March 23, 2021, the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights convened a group of experts to highlight the unique strengths of and challenges faced by LGBTQIA children who come to our borders seeking protection. The Young Center serves many of the most vulnerable immigrant children who come to the United States, including LGBTQIA children who are escaping violence and persecution based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Young Center staff from across the country joined the webinar to discuss our work with LGBTQIA immigrant children and how we tailor our advocacy to meet children where they are and ensure they land somewhere safe.