Congress Passes Protections for Migrant Children

Published December 17, 2008 @ 04:59AM PT

As DHS throws its resources towards deporting as many migrants as it can in the waning days of the Bush administration, some light emerged last week as the efforts of religious migrant advocacy groups to pass increased protections for unaccompanied minors paid off. From the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service press release:

BALTIMORE, December 11, 2008-Last night the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate passed the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA), H.R. 7311, putting before President Bush a landmark opportunity to protect thousands of trafficking victims. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) applauds the passage of this bill, which includes long-sought reforms to aid and protect vulnerable immigrant children.

Every year thousands of foreign-born children arrive in the United States with no adult to accompany them. Among those taken into federal custody to undergo immigration processing, many have been trafficked, persecuted in their home countries, or subjected to domestic violence, abuse, and neglect.

"In a country as great as the United States we must ensure that children are treated humanely and in accord with national and international standards, especially when so many have experienced shocking violence and abuse," said LIRS President Ralston H. Deffenbaugh Jr.

The TVPRA sets new standards for how children will be treated in custody, the kind of mental health and other services they will receive, and the conditions under which they can be sent home. "This law makes clear the joint responsibility of all federal agencies to be sure these children are safe," said LIRS Vice President for Protection Susan Krehbiel. "For the first time, federal officials will be required to follow child welfare principles, including the ‘best interests of the child' standard, when making decisions about their care and their return."

The TVPRA will assist in the identification and protection of trafficking survivors and those who are eligible for asylum and other forms of immigration relief. The bill will help ensure that more trafficked children receive protection and critical services.

"LIRS is grateful to sponsors of the trafficking bill, Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Rep. Berman (D-CA) and the late Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA)," said LIRS Director for Legislative Affairs Gregory Chen. "We extend our deepest appreciation to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), who have worked tirelessly for eight years to pass legislation that protects vulnerable unaccompanied children. Without their efforts, these critical reforms would never have become a reality."

LIRS produced this backgrounder (pdf) on the bill last year. This is a welcome development in an otherwise dreary winter.

Spread the Word

More You Can Do

Get action and news alerts about Immigrant Rights »
Browse top Immigrant Rights organizations to support »
Find out more about Immigrant Rights and what you can do to help »

Comments (5)

As a parent, I am heartened by the fact that this bill has passed and that President Bush will sign the legislation into law.

Words do not adequately express the fact that there are individuals whose interest in children end with the protection of a foetus, and not a living and breathing infant without parents and in the hands of those who define them as "commodities".

Vulnerable unaccompanied children need parents - parents of all ethnic, gender, race, psychosexual orientations, married or single or discordant, who will love and nurture them and bring them to productive and loving adulthood.

Posted by A B on 12/17/2008 @ 06:53AM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by A
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
This is wonderful news! Sadly, it doesn't go far enough... What of all the children who are traumatized during the ICE raids? How about those who are forced to endure abusive conditions in the detention centers? Do we have to wait for another ACLU lawsuit before something Congress acts to protect these children? Still, I am heartened to hear that the admirable work by migrant advocacy groups to protect unaccompanied minors has paid off. Kudos!!

Posted by a d on 12/17/2008 @ 03:24PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by a
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
"Words do not adequately express the fact that there are individuals whose interest in children end with the protection of a foetus"

That is of of the most rediculous attacks that i have ever read. I have never heard of any person who believes that a fetus is a human being that has ever thought of a child being less than human.

Posted by Jeremy Gunter on 12/17/2008 @ 03:27PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Jeremy
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
Just thought of this...

If you're looking for a good book to read during the holidays, I highly recommend Sonia Nazario's moving portrayal of a child migrant in Enrique’s Journey. Nazario informs us that some 48,000 children throughout Latin America attempt the dangerous crossing into the United States every year. Many come looking for their mothers who left them behind in order to search for work in the United States.
To reach her, most of the children will hitch a ride on "El Tren de la Muerte" (The Train of Death) along with thousands of other children, all searching for their mothers or trying to escape the grinding poverty back home. During the journey, some of these children will be swept off the trains onto the tracks, where many will lose their lives or their limbs. Others will be hunted down like animals by police and violent gangs of thugs and thieves. Most are likely to be beaten, robbed, bullied, and possibly raped (especially girls), and all of them will be frightened, hungry, thirsty, cold and desperately alone. Many will make the trip more than once — Enrique attempted the same journey seventeen times — and all due to a desperate longing to be united with the mother who left them behind, who is now little more than a distant memory — an idealized image in a photograph.

Sonia Nazario won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting, which was first serialized in the L.A. Times. To get to the heart of the reasons why immigrants choose to make this dangerous crossing, Nazario undertook the same treacherous journey herself. She went from Tegucigalpa in Honduras to North Carolina, riding the rails on "El Tren de la Muerte" along with hundreds of other children. Following in Enrique's footsteps, she finally meets his mother, whom she interviews, along with the family he left behind. Enrique's Journey has been compared to Tom Sawyer or an American-style Odyssey by some critics. But this is an all-too-real story. If I could recommend just one book that everyone should read, it would be this one. Enrique’s Journey provides something often missing from the debate around immigration: a very real and human perspective on the lives of immigrants in the United States.

Posted by a d on 12/17/2008 @ 03:44PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by a
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
ITS ABOUT TIME WE STOP THINKING ABOUT OUR SELFS AND START THINKING OF THOSE AROUND US ALSO. IM EXCITED TO SEE THEY PASSED IT.

Posted by Cecil Johnson on 12/17/2008 @ 07:35PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Cecil
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply

Add a Comment

For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

Comment

Check Spelling

Email me when there are new posts to this thread
Comment Policy

Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.

Author

David is an attorney in Philadelphia, PA, where he helps immigrants to the U.S. navigate the complex immigration legal system. Views he expresses at change.org are his alone and don't represent the views or opinions of his employer, Nationalities Service Center. The information contained on this site is intended for educational and advocacy purposes only.