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.

This fact sheet explains the harmful impacts of HR 4935, a bill that would modify Child Tax Credit eligibility, including a requirement that parents file with a Social Security number. This change would restrict eligibility for millions of children living in low-income immigrant families.

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 reduction method away from millions of children.

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 due process rights of children and put them in harm’s way.

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, and Related Agencies subcommittee on Thursday, June 12, 2014.

This fact sheet outlines the harmful implications of rolling back protections for vulnerable migrant children from non-contiguous countries under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). 

Read about the harms of rolling back protections for vulnerable migrant children under #TVPRA | http://bit.ly/1Rm6nee | @Campaign4Kids
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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.”

On June 25th, the First Focus Campaign for Children submitted this statement for the record for the House Judiciary Committee hearing entitled “An Administration Made Disaster: The Texas Border Surge of Unaccompanied Alien Minors.”

On Wednesday, June 25th First Focus Campaign for Children sent this letter to all members of the House of Representatives regarding the misguided, irresponsible, and mean-spirited Dear Colleague letter circulated by Congressman Darrel Issa. The Congressman’s letter proposes to address the issue of an increase of child refugees fleeing terrible and unspeakably violent circumstances and arriving at the Southern Border by eliminating the highly successful and popular Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative. The letter provides a brief outline of the successes of DACA, why this policy is not to blame for the recent influx of Central American children, and urges all members of the House of Representatives to reject Congressman Issa’s proposal.

Washington – The First Focus Campaign for Children, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization, sent a letter today urging members of Congress not to sign a letter coordinated by Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) concerning the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy. Issa’s letter urges President Barack Obama to rescind DACA and accelerate the deportation of immigrants who entered the United States as children.

“Children fleeing brutal violence come to America seeking protection and opportunity, and Congressman Issa wants to give them an express ticket back to extreme danger,” said Campaign for Children president Bruce Lesley.

The Campaign for Children letter challenges mischaracterizations in Rep. Issa’s letter, which asserts that DACA is responsible for increased immigration by Central American children. The Campaign for Children letter observes that, like refugees fleeing Syria and other conflict regions, children are fleeing Central American countries wracked by increased political instability and drug violence.

“Rather than attacking children and pitting one vulnerable set of youth against another, Congress should be working towards solutions to protect the best interests of all children,” said Lesley.

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