This website provides guidance for keeping key communications principles in mind when entering into discussions about unaccompanied children who have come to the United States in order to escape violence. This guidance is based on both communications research and experience talking about more general immigration issues.
Access ResourceCreated by Barbara Kagan, Lindsay Marshall, Lauren Dasse, Laurie Melrood, and Cindy Schlosser, this Spanish language manual provides guidance for immigrant parents in Arizona on developing a plan to protect their parental rights in the event that they are apprehended by ICE.
Read ManualChild Migration and Human Rights in a Global Age provides a comprehensive account of the widespread and growing but neglected global phenomenon of child migration and child trafficking.
View Textbook InformationThrough interviews with children and their families, attorneys, social workers, policy-makers, law enforcement, and diplomats, anthropologist Lauren Heidbrink foregrounds the voices of migrant children and youth who must navigate the legal and emotional terrain of U.S. immigration policy.
View Textbook InformationThis report explores the situation of migrant persons and others in Mexico, as well as of those who defend migrants’ human rights, including the homicides, kidnappings, disappearances, acts of sexual violence, human trafficking, migrant smuggling, discrimination, and the detention of migrants without due process and judicial protection.
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This article outlines the current state of the law pertaining
to representation for unaccompanied children, traces the complex
immigration process, assesses current needs and practices, and advocates for guaranteeing representation for this vulnerable population on a legal and economical basis.
The information gathered in this study is intended to help improve the situation of migrants by informing policy makers, government officials, and civil society organizations about the issues and challenges from the migrant perspective. Additionally, the findings of the study aim to facilitate more effective communication regarding perceptions of migrants and the migration process.
Read the Full StudyThis report documents the November 16-23, 2013 trip of a delegation from Migration and Refugee Services of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (MRS/USCCB) to
southern Mexico and Central America to explore and understand the situation of
unaccompanied children and youth fleeing from the region.
This 2-page ILRC document summarizes the guidelines laid out in the Directive.
Read SummaryOn August 23, 2013, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a directive on Facilitating Parental Interests in the Course of Immigration Enforcement Activities, or the Parental Interest Directive. The Directive is a response to the large and growing number of U.S. citizen children with immigrant parents or guardians who have been detained or deported, and is meant to ensure that detained and removed parents and guardians can maintain a relationship with their children and make decisions in their best interest. Written by Wendy Cervantes, Vice President, Immigration and Child Rights Policy, First Focus.
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