Following labor trafficking indictments in federal court brought against individuals who forced young refugees to work on egg farms in Ohio, the U.S. Senate committee on investigations reported on "Protecting Unaccompanied Alien Children from Trafficking and Other Abuses: The Role of the Office of Refugee Resettlement."
Protecting Unaccompanied Child Migrants in the US
News stories about the recent surge in unaccompanied minor children entering the United States from Central America have begun to address the applicable legal framework: the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, which provides for these children to be transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettleme
UNHCR on the Humanitarian Crisis for Children in Central America
In this MSNBC video interview, Leslie Velez, Senior Protection Officer for the UN High Commissioner on Refugees, discusses the humanitarian crisis behind the large numbers of children heading to the United States from Central America.
News watch: Unaccompanied Children Entering US in Record Numbers
Many media outlets are reporting on the unprecedented wave of children arriving in the United States in recent months, reported to be more than 52,000 unaccompanied children and 39,000 adults with children since October 2013. on track to reach a total of 60,000 for the current year. New York Times coverage by Julia Preston includes these articles:
New CIS Adoption Policy Guidance
A new Policy Memorandum from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) offers “Guidance for Determining if an Adoption is Valid for Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) Purposes” (PM-602-0070.1) (Nov. 6, 2012).
Policy Guidance on Deportations and Same-Sex Partners
DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano has directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to develop written policy guidance treating consider long-term same-sex couple relationships among the “family relationships” that may be considered in the decision whether to grant a stay of deportation. Here’s coverage of the story:
American Children Returning “Home” to Mexico
Great NY Times piece this morning about the effects on children of the current “reverse migration” from the U.S.
New Policy Limits Deportation of Immigrants Brought to US as Children
President Obama announced on June 15 that the Department of Homeland Security would no longer initiate deportaiton of illegal immigrants who came to the U.S.
Special Commission Reconvenes in The Hague
Part II of the Special Commission on the Practical Operation of the Hague Abduction and Child Protection Conventions begins on Wednesday, January 25, 2012 and continues through January 31 in The Hague. Rather than focusing primarily on the possibility of a protocol to the Abduction Convention, the meeting will focus on future work in three areas: enforceability of mediated agreements in the family law area, a legal basis for direct judicial communication, and the treatment of domestic violence issues within a return proceeding. In addition to a
Mexican Immigration to US is down, but the birthrate is up
Here’s a report released by the Pew Hispanic Center on July 14 showing that during the period from 2000 to 2010 the Mexican-American population increased by 4.2 million as a result of new immigration and by 7.2 million as a result of births. The study notes that “[t}his is a change from the previous two decades when the number of new immigrants either matched or exceeded the number of births. Between 2006 and 2010, new immigration dropped by 6o%, both because of declining job opportunities and increased