This panel, featuring CICW Director Kristina Lovato, will provide practical strategies for supporting immigrant families and children during increased immigration enforcement, covering topics like discussing raids with children, creating family preparedness plans, and accessing resources for the back-to-school season.
Organizations and individuals can submit comments to USCIS on two recent agency actions that harm youth with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS): (1) a USCIS policy change that eliminates the SIJS Deferred Action Policy, and (2) proposed changes to Form G-325A that would eliminate requests for deferred action based on SIJS. The deadline for comments addressing #1 is July 7, 2025 11:59pm ET and for #2 is July 28, 2025 11:59pm ET.
The End SIJS Backlog Coalition is tracking implementation of USCIS’s deferred action policy for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) youth who are awaiting a visa to share general trends with the field and media and as part of advocacy efforts to end the SIJS backlog. Complete this form to report outcomes of SIJS deferred action-based work authorization requests (Form I-765, based on category (c)(14)).
Girasol has 3 upcoming trainings on topics related to working with immigrant populations, including:
In this webinar, Education for All Tennessee partners will share their lessons learned about how they defeated Anti-Plyler legislation.
This webinar will review updates on the current fight for unaccompanied children’s access to legal representation in immigration proceedings and the role of Child Advocates.
Girasol has 3 upcoming trainings on topics related to working with immigrant populations, including:
This webinar will present findings from a survey of over 2,000 Spanish-speaking immigrants, offering insights into their experiences, needs, and resistance strategies within the current political climate.
This new book contain two chapters that address issues for immigrant children and families who become involved with the child welfare system.
April 22, 2025 — In partnership with the Berkeley School of Social Welfare, the Latinx and Democracy Cluster (LDC) Speaker Series, and the Center on Immigration and Child Welfare Initiative (CICW), Dr. Kristina Lovato, Assistant Professor of Social Welfare and Director of the CICW, hosted Dr. Luis Zayas, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, for a powerful presentation titled “Immigration Enforcement: Facing A New Reality of An Age-Old Phenomenon.”
Drawing from his award-winning book, Through Iceboxes and Kennels: How Immigration Detention Harms Children and Families, Dr. Zayas shared research findings on the psychological and social impacts of immigration detention on asylum-seeking families. He presented a theoretical model of migration from Central America, highlighting the profound effects of post-migration experiences—particularly immigration enforcement—on children’s attachment, development, and mental health. Using visual models of disrupted development, Dr. Zayas illustrated how forced family separations and detention environments damage children’s wellbeing.
The discussion also explored how practitioners and service organizations can more effectively support immigrant families amidst growing uncertainty about the future of immigration enforcement policies. Dr. Zayas emphasized the urgent need for trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and systemic approaches to serve impacted communities.
© 2026 CICW.