We Need Immigration Reform Now!

Nine-year-old JaimeGordillo Villa was born in the United States and is a good student who hasgotten awards for both good grades and behavior. He wants to be a lawyer whenhe grows up to help immigrants and others who need help. He says he doesn’twant people to suffer for things they didn’t do. His family knows aboutsuffering since coming to the United States to start a new life. Jaime adoredhis big brother. They studied and played soccer and video games together. Butwhen his brother was detained by immigration officials his family had to spendso much money on lawyers to try to keep him here that they lost their home. Andthen his brother was deported anyway. Jaime’s afraid his mother or father mightbe next if they are caught by the police and he might lose them too. He is oneof fifty courageous children the Center for Community Change has coming toWashington, D.C. on November 14 to share their stories with members of Congressand urge them to pass immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship thisyear.

As the debate onimmigration reform continues in Congress, millions of children have so much atstake. One in four children in the United States currently lives in animmigrant family, representing about 18.4 million children. Children ofimmigrants represent the fastest growing segment of the child population. Immigrantpopulations are diverse, but many children in immigrant families facesignificant challenges to their health and well-being, including poverty, lackof health insurance, low educational attainment, substandard housing, andlanguage barriers. Any long term solution to our immigration system must take into account what is best for thesechildren.

A recent reportfrom Human Impact Partners (HIP), FamilyUnity, Family Health, highlights the need to protect children’s rights andkeep families together during immigration reform to ensure children’shealth. Family-focused immigration reform would result in better childhealth. Our current immigration policies push families apart and children intoillness and poverty. HIP projects that if current policies remain unchanged,43,000 U.S. citizen children will experience a decline in health status,100,000 will develop signs of withdrawal, and over 125,000 will go hungry inthe next year. Children of undocumented immigrants—the majority of whom areU.S. citizens—will continue to suffer from trauma and fear of deportation whichcan lead to costly health consequences in their adult lives.

The Children’s DefenseFund has joined with many child and family advocates supporting a set of key principlesfor children we hope Congress and the Administration will incorporate inimmigration reform without more delay. Limbo is a very bad place for childrento live.

First, we believe there must be adirect, clear, and reasonable pathway to citizenship. Any pathway to citizenship must be open,affordable, safe, and accessible to children in need of status, includingbeneficiaries of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), undocumentedchildren under the age of 21, and unaccompanied immigrant children.

Second, ourimmigration system must uphold children’sbasic human rights and ensure access to critical public services, programs,and economic supports for children and their families. Protecting a child’shuman rights should include ensuring children receive legal representationbefore all immigration authorities and, for all unaccompanied children, theappointment of an independent child advocate from the moment of detentionthroughout the course of any immigration or other related court proceedings.

Third, we need to ensureenforcement efforts have appropriate protections for children. In all enforcement actions, includingthose along the border, the best interests of the child should be a primaryconsideration and children must be given the benefit of the doubt during anyinvestigation or detention. There should be appropriate and accountabletraining policies for interacting with and screening children that reflect ahumanitarian and protection-oriented approach, prohibit the use of force withchildren, and create reasonable and safe conditions for children.

Finally, we must keepfamilies together. All policies regarding admissibility,enforcement, detention, and deportation of children and their parents mustconsider the best interests of children, including enabling immigration judgesto exercise discretion in admission and removal decisions based on the hardshipto U.S. citizen and lawful permanent resident children. The immigration systemmust be updated by resolving current backlogs and ensuring family-basedimmigration channels are adequate for future migration without lengthy familyseparation.