Letters and Correspondence

On July 30th, the First Focus Campaign for Children sent this letter to the U.S. House of Representatives opposing the Secure the South West Border Act (H.R. 5230) to address the influx of Unaccompanied Children entering the United States. The bill puts vulnerable children seeking safety in our country in harm’s way by rolling back critical trafficking protections, placing children into expedited removal proceedings, keeping children in inappropriate detention settings longer than necessary, and restricting their access to legal counsel.

On July 25th, the First Focus Campaign for Children submitted this statement to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee commenting on a hearing entitled “Falling Through the Cracks: The Challenges of Prevention and Identification in Child Trafficking and Private Re-Homing.”

First Focus Campaign for Children sent this letter to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 24, 2014 urging a no vote on H.R.4935, the Child Tax Credit (CTC) Improvement Act. This bill would take the CTC away from 5.5 million children, including 4.5 million citizen children, who have immigrant parents that file their taxes with an IRS-issued Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. With child poverty at a 20-year high, the letter urges Congress to take proactive steps to reduce child poverty instead of taking this proven poverty...

On July 14, 2014 the First Focus Campaign for Children sent this letter to Members of Congress to urge them to preserve critical protections governing the rights of unaccompanied children under the bipartisan Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPRA) of 2008. In order to address the influx of Central American refugees, both Members of Congress and the Administration have proposed rolling back certain protections for unaccompanied children from non-contiguous countries in order to expedite the removal process. This letter warns against this approach and explains why such proposals undermine the safety and...

On July 10, 2014 the First Focus Campaign for Children submitted this statement for the record to the Senate Committee on Appropriations hearing on the President’s $3.7 billion supplemental request to address the child refugee crisis on the southern border. Attached to the statement is a letter signed by over 50 organizations in support of increased funds to the Department of Health and Human Services to provide for the care of unaccompanied children as marked up by the the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education,...

On July 8, 2014 the First Focus Campaign for Children, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization, sent a letter to Congressman John Kline urging him to schedule a committee hearing to examine recent report findings by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

On July 9th, the First Focus Campaign for Children submitted this statement for the House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs hearing entitled “Child Protection and the Justice System on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation.”

First Focus Campaign for Children sent this letter to the cosponsors of the Core Opportunity Resources for Equity and Excellence Act (S.2557 and H.R.5001), Senator Jack Reed, Senator Sherrod Brown, and Representative Marcia Fudge. The letter outlines the challenges that students of color, English language learners, low-income students, and students with disabilities face, including lack of access to school counselors, qualified and experienced teachers, and full range of core courses. It also explains how the addition of inputs into the federal accountability framework would help close...

H.R 4980, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act includes critical provisions aimed at improving outcomes for children and youth who are at-risk of being sexually trafficked, prioritizes “normalcy” for children in the foster care system, provides incentives to states for increasing adoptions and guardianships, and strengthens supports for children in foster and adoptive families. This letter urges House leadership to bring this bill to the floor and ensure its swift passage so that vulnerable youth and children can benefit from these important reforms. The letter was also sent...

One June 24th, the First Focus Campaign for Children submitted this statement for the record for the House Homeland Security Committee hearing entitled “Dangerous Passage: The Growing Problem of Unaccompanied Children Crossing the Border.”