With more unaccompanied children and families making the dangerous journey to the Southwest border, the Administration is now doubling down on its efforts to eliminate critical safeguards for immigrant and refugee children. The Administration’s proposals, which are currently being considered by Congress, would allow for more families to be detained, and for children to be quickly sent back to Central America without a fair chance to ask for protection.

While the Administration says these measures are necessary to deter asylum seekers, we know that you don’t solve a humanitarian crisis by returning children and families to danger, violence and even death.

Rather than decimating the life-saving protections in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) and the Flores Settlement Agreement, our government should address the conditions forcing thousands of children to flee their homes and communities.

We have a few ideas on how it can do that.

We support assistance to address gang violence and combat corruption in Central America – not cuts to foreign aid for violence prevention programming and access to justice for victims of crimes.

We support the hiring of professionals with the medical, language, and child welfare expertise needed to appropriately and efficiently process children and families – not efforts to close our country’s borders to asylum seekers.

We support collaboration within the region to increase protection for migrants and refugees, including by strengthening Mexico’s asylum system and expanding U.S. refugee processing of children and families in their countries and throughout the region – not efforts to target the most vulnerable in their search for safety.

Let’s tell Administration and Congress that we support meaningful solutions to challenges at the border, and that rollbacks to the TVPRA and Flores are not among them.

Please call your Members of Congress to request that they oppose any legislation that rolls back critical protections for children in the TVPRA and Flores agreement, and that they instead support legislation that would address conditions facing children and families and improve safety in Central America without compromising access to protection.

Click here to enter in your address and find your Representative and Senators. The tool will then provide you with their phone numbers.

Please call them and say:

Hello, my name is XX and I am from XX. I’m calling to share my concern about bills and proposals now being considered by Congress that would change the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) to let the government quickly return unaccompanied children to Central America.

Children face extreme gang violence, human trafficking or even death in the region. The TVPRA helps to make sure children alone in our immigration system have a fair chance to tell their stories and seek protection. Without these safeguards, our government risks sending children to harm.

I’m asking Representative/Senator ___ to protect children in need and the TVPRA by standing strong against these attacks.

For Representatives, please add:

Instead of weakening protections for children, I hope Representative ___ will support legislation that meaningfully addresses the conditions forcing children and families to flee and improves safety in Central America without compromising access to protection.

For Senators, please add:

Instead of weakening protections for children, I hope Senator ___ will work to address the dangers forcing children to flee their countries by supporting the Central America Reform and Enforcement Act.

Photo © Lori Barra, 2019