Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Migrant Child Labor Debate in Congress Becomes Mired in Immigration Fight

The revelation that migrant children are being exploited for cheap labor in the United States prompted bipartisan outrage and calls to action on Capitol Hill. Congress has not addressed the issue, and legislation to crack down on companies’ use of child labor has gone nowhere. The issue has little Republican backing, while Democrats’ efforts are […]

Biden Administration Ends Title 42 Order for Unaccompanied Migrant Children

The Biden Administration partially pulled back a controversial Trump-Era border policy known as “Title 42” after a court ruling last week would’ve forced the administration to restart the expulsion of unaccompanied minors. Title 42 is a public health order that stops migrants from seeking asylum during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Saturday, the Centers for Disease […]

Whistleblowers Claim Inadequate Care of Migrant Children

According to two federal workers who have come forward to file a whistleblower complaint to Congress, children housed in one of the Biden administration’s largest shelters for unaccompanied migrant minors were being watched over by contractors with no Spanish-language skills or experience in childcare. The contractor for the Department of Health and Human Services, Servpro, […]

Child deportations surge amid Coronavirus pandemic

The Trump administration has expedited the deportation of child migrants during the coronavirus pandemic, citing public health, but documents obtained by NBC News show that as far back as 2017, now–DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf sought to expedite child deportations in order to discourage Central American asylum seekers. Recent reports from immigration lawyers, DHS officials and congressional staff have […]

Migrant children in Chicago-area shelters infected with coronavirus

There are at least 37 confirmed cases of coronavirus among minors in U.S. custody at a Chicago-area migrant housing center, CBS News reported yesterday. Heartland Alliance, a nonprofit that operates shelters in the Chicago area for unaccompanied migrant children, told CBS that more than half of the 69 minors housed in their facilities have tested positive for the virus. Mailee […]

Separated children and families sue the Trump Administration

The Trump administration’s family separation policy resulted in thousands of traumatized children and parents who were “cruelly and inhumanely separated from each other,” according to a lawsuit filed against the administration yesterday. The lawsuit from the ACLU covers families separated at the southern border from 2017 through the present. “The suffering and trauma inflicted on […]

States sue the Trump Administration over Flores settlement

California is leading a nearly 20-state lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s abandonment of a long-standing rule governing how long migrant children can be detained. State Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced the suit at a press conference yesterday, marking nearly the 60th time California has taken legal action against the Trump […]

Children in detention centers allege sex assault in retaliation for protesting

The poor treatment of migrant children at the hands of U.S. border agents in recent months extends to include allegations of sexual assault and retaliation for protests, according to dozens of accounts by children held in Arizona. A 16-year-old Guatemalan boy held in Yuma, Arizona, said he and others in his cell complained about the taste […]

Graham announces new immigration bill that advocates say would harm migrant children

A new bill from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) would harm undocumented immigrant children by detaining them for longer periods and allowing immigration officials to send them back to life-threatening situations in their home countries. Immigrant rights advocates argue the legislation wouldn’t even achieve its stated purpose: deterring undocumented families from coming to the U.S. Graham […]

Judge gave Trump Administration 6 months to reunite migrant children with families

A judge gave President Trump’s administration six months to identify migrant children who were separated from their families for reunification, a process the White House previously stated would take up to two years. The Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General estimated in a report that thousands of children were separated even before the “zero tolerance” […]