News

Washington – The First Focus Campaign for Children today applauded U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) for filing a bipartisan amendment to strengthen the DREAM Act provisions of the Senate “Gang of 8” comprehensive immigration reform bill. The senators’ “Little DREAMers” amendment would eliminate obstacles that deny younger children a five-year path to citizenship, which is available through the underlying bill to older children and young adults.“Little kids have the biggest dreams, and the Blumenthal-Murkowski amendment would bring those dreams much closer to reality,” said Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley.The base bill (S. 744)...

Washington – The First Focus Campaign for Children, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization, sent a letter today urging members of the U.S. House of Representatives to reject provisions of the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (colloquially, the House “Farm Bill”) that weaken investments in child nutrition.“Yes, the federal government has budget problems, but hungry kids didn’t cause them, and cutting anti-hunger investments is the wrong way to solve them,” said First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley.The legislation cuts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) by nearly $21 billion over 10 years. Forty-seven percent...

Washington – The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations voted today to approve legislation funding the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and related agencies for federal fiscal year (FY) 2014. The legislation provides $214 million less for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) for FY 2014. The lower WIC funding brings the bill in line with lower overall funding allocations made under the House-passed FY 2014 budget resolution. That appropriations allocation package would result in cuts totaling nearly $15 billion to appropriations bills that fund critical children’s priorities. The bill specifies that funding to...

Washington – The U.S. House of Representatives today approved an amendment by Rep. Steve King (R-IA) that, if passed by the U.S. Senate, would deny the U.S. Department of Homeland Security funding to administer the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. Announced nearly one year ago, DACA exercises prosecutorial discretion, permitting qualifying young people who entered the United States as undocumented immigrants during their childhood to remain lawfully in the U.S. for two years and obtain work authorization during that period. In response, First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley issued the following statement:“DACA gives kids who want...

New America Media"There is only one group of people harmed by this vote, and that’s children," First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley said in a statement in response to the House vote. "Every parent and every American who values kids should be appalled."The House vote comes as the Senate prepares to debate the immigration reform bill, which includes an accelerated pathway to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children.More

Public News ServiceAccording to Wendy Cervantes, vice president, immigration and child rights policy, First Focus Campaign for Children, one of the most important provisions would keep families from being torn apart, and give parents who are detained or deported more of a say in what happens to their kids."And what's happening to those children is that they're either going back to their parents to a country they may have never known, or they're staying behind here with family members or friends," she stated.Cervantes said about 5000 children are in foster care in the U.S. because their parents have been...

Washington – As Congress debates immigration reform, 175 state and national organizations led by the First Focus Campaign for Children today endorsed the Foster Children Opportunity Act (H.R. 2036). The bill, introduced today by Congressman Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas-16), increases the likelihood that immigrant children removed from their parents’ custody because of concerns about abuse or neglect will be protected by immigration law benefits already in place.“The Foster Children Opportunity Act ensures that kids who came into the foster care system due to abuse or neglect don’t have to live in fear of deportation as adults,” said First Focus Campaign...

Washington – The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee today approved an amendment sponsored by Senators Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to strengthen protections for children in the Senate “Gang of 8” comprehensive immigration reform bill (S. 744). The amendment was cosponsored by Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Democratic Senators Chris Coons (Del.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), and Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), and by Republican Senators John Cornyn (Texas) and Ted Cruz (Texas). The Franken-Grassley amendment would keep families together whenever possible and help mitigate harm to children, including preventing children from entering foster care when immigration enforcement results in the detention...

Washington – The U.S. House Committee on Agriculture voted Wednesday to cut nearly $21 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), an investment that allocates 47 percent of funding to U.S. children. The Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (commonly referred to as the Farm Bill) would also weaken two other child nutrition initiatives: SNAP-Education (“SNAP-Ed”) and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP). First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley released the following statement in response to the vote:“Children are still reeling from the recession, and one-in-five kids lives in a family affected by hunger. But...

Washington – The First Focus Campaign for Children sent a letter today, urging members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to oppose amendments that would discourage parents from seeking health care or food for their children. The letter cautioned that such amendments would adversely affect children’s immigration status eligibility based on their receipt of health care through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or their receipt of food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).“Food and health care are children’s most basic needs, and Congress should be making it easier for children, not creating more red tape,”...