Advocates Sound the Alarm: House Judiciary Budget Bill Endangers Unaccompanied Children

WASHINGTON, DC — On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee marked up their portion of Congress’s supercharged budget bill, which aims to dramatically change existing immigration laws and dismantle key protections for unaccompanied immigrant children, leaving them more vulnerable to harm and trafficking. At the same time, Congress proposes deep cuts to major programs that support children’s health, development, and well-being: Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). Put plainly: the reconciliation package is an attack on kids.  

  

The House Judiciary Budget Bill: 

  • Requires children’s families to pay for their time detained in government custody, 

  • Funds government officials “to conduct an examination of the unaccompanied child for gang-related markings,” 

  • Threatens to end critical services for unaccompanied children, 

  • Shares children’s private information with ICE for enforcement purposes, and 

  • Undercuts the legal framework of care for unaccompanied children, which was long-ago enshrined in a bipartisan law and judicial consent decree.   

  

“The bill sends a clear message: immigrant children are not safe in our country. It is loaded with significant policy changes, not just changes to spending or revenue, that effectively dismantle the legal framework of care for unaccompanied children,” said Mary Miller Flowers, Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs for the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. 

“This budget bill invests billions of taxpayer dollars into family separation, prolonged child detention, and child exploitation,” said Melissa Adamson, Attorney at the National Center for Youth Law. “I think the vast majority of this country would agree that our government should not fund policies that profoundly and potentially irreversibly harm children in this way.” 

“This is a child detention bill masquerading as a budget document. Charging potential sponsor families thousands of dollars before releasing children from government custody is a tactic that is intended to result in the indefinite institutionalization of children in government custody, at the cost of their mental health and well-being, and millions in additional taxpayer dollars.  Protracted detention of children is not protective and fails to live up to our national commitment to treat all children with dignity and care. Child welfare experts and immigration advocates are united in their opposition to this bill – it is a nonstarter,” said Shaina Aber, Executive Director of the Acacia Center for Justice. 

“This bill represents one of the ugliest attacks on children we have seen since the Zero Tolerance family separation crisis,” said Marion “Mickey” Donovan-Kaloust, Director of Legal Services at Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef). “It diverts billions of taxpayer dollars to trap children in government custody indefinitely, separated from their families and loved ones.  At the same time, it would deny access to counsel and gut protections for children. This budget does not reflect the American values of welcoming and family unity. Instead, it reveals a heartless government that is willing to endanger children by exposing them to the risks of trafficking and exploitation.” 

“This bill turns back the clock on decades of child welfare law in order to jail children at unprecedented rates, keep families apart, and criminalize families. If this bill is enacted, the U.S. federal government would also compete with cartels in exploiting children and their families, seeking thousands of dollars from sponsors and for families to reunify. Across the political spectrum, all should condemn this anti-children bill,” said Azadeh Erfani, Policy Director for the National Immigrant Justice Center. 

"The proposal to levy massive fees on potential sponsors of unaccompanied children is nothing less than a policy of family separation. These kids are fleeing violence, persecution, and desperation and should be swiftly released from custody, provided a safe and stable home placement, and access to trauma-informed services such that they can learn, grow and thrive," said Christine Lemonda, Senior Director of Children's Services at Church World Service."CWS unequivocally rejects any legislative proposal that aims to balance its budget through exploitation of families and children seeking humanitarian protection." 

“This bill effectively ends the US protection system for unaccompanied children,” said KIND Chief of Global Policy and Advocacy Jennifer Podkul. “It not only makes it virtually impossible for children to access protection in the United States; it would also make the government responsible for putting children in even more compromised and dangerous conditions. The bill eliminates access to vital anti-trafficking protections that were established under the bipartisan 2008 trafficking legislation, as well as the government systems that exist to protect children and families from needless separation, exploitation, and human trafficking.”  

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Alexandra McAnarney