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) provides a five-year path to citizenship for youth who entered the U.S. prior to age 16, graduated from high school or earned a GED, and earned a college diploma, attended two years of college, or spent four years in the military. The legislation’s educational requirements effectively deny children access to the DREAM path to citizenship, if they are too young to graduate from high school. Instead, those children must follow the path to citizenship established by the bill for adults, which could mean a delay of up to thirteen years.

The amendment enjoys widespread support. The First Focus Campaign for Children coordinated endorsements of the Little DREAMers Amendment by more than 180 child advocacy, faith-based, education, labor, and immigrant rights groups.

“Thirteen years is a lifetime for a child,” said Lesley. “The Senate should adopt this common-sense amendment.”

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

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 of SNAP funding goes to children.

“It’s simple math – nearly half of every SNAP dollar goes to children, so the House Farm Bill would take food away from hungry kids,” said Lesley.

The bill also cuts funding for the SNAP-Education program. This initiative, commonly referred to as “SNAP-Ed,” funds local schools’ efforts to inform kids about healthy food choices and the benefits of healthy eating. SNAP- Ed also helps parents learn how to buy and prepare healthy foods and get the most nutritional value for every SNAP dollar.

“A Congress serious about fighting child hunger and curbing the childhood obesity epidemic would never cut SNAP-Ed,” said Lesley.

The legislation would also weaken the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP). FFVP provides funding to help local schools make fresh produce available to children in low-income communities, but the bill would make dried, canned, and frozen produce – including products with added sugar, salt, or other additives – eligible for FFVP funding.

“Politicians and agribusiness lobbyists can’t fool the American people – pizza’s not a vegetable, and canned fruits packed in sugar syrup aren’t fresh,” said Lesley.

The U.S. Senate passed its own version of Farm Bill legislation last week. The Farm Bill debate stalled last year, when the Senate passed a Farm Bill, but the House did not.

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

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 serve the immediate needs of current beneficiaries is to be prioritized, a move that is anticipated to result in the following funding reductions:

• No funding for an initiative that helps new mothers breastfeed their babies;

• No funding for a congressionally-mandated initiative to modernize WIC, by moving from paper eligibility cards to more secure electronic cards;
• USDA will likely need to deplete the WIC contingency fund, leaving no reserves to accommodate increases in food costs or increases in need driven by economic conditions.

In response, First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley released the following statement:

“If budgets are about priorities, appropriations allocations that cut support for children’s initiatives show that the House doesn’t place a high priority on kids. Yes, the federal government has budget problems, but making it harder for babies to get the nutrition they need is the wrong way to solve them.”

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

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 to contribute to our society and our economy a chance to step out of the shadows and build successful adult lives. There is only one group of people harmed by this vote, and that’s children. Every parent and every American who values kids should be appalled.”

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

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 for Children President Bruce Lesley.

In 2008, Congress created a special nonimmigrant status in federal immigration law. This Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) allows children brought to the United States, then placed in foster care by state governments to protect them from abuse or neglect, to remain lawfully in the U.S. Children granted SIJS are eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship after five years. Thousands of undocumented immigrant children are living in foster care, nationwide.

SIJS is not well known to child welfare agency officials or to judges and other court officers. As a result, many eligible children never get SIJS protections. If they do not obtain SIJS or other immigration relief options before age 18 (or, in some cases, 21), these children must either surrender for deportation to a country they barely remember or remain unlawfully in the U.S. Those who remain cannot get jobs or a college education and are often forced underground because they can’t get driver’s licenses or other identity documents.

“Immigration law already promises kids victimized by abuse or neglect a chance at a productive life, but for too many, it’s an empty promise,” said Lesley.

“Foster children are some of the most vulnerable members of our society. There are thousands of abused and neglected undocumented children in the child welfare system at any given time and many of these children will slip through the cracks without obtaining the legal status to which they are entitled,” said Congressman O’Rourke. “This legislation will offer relief to undocumented immigrant foster youth who have no family members in the U.S. and cannot safely be return to their country of origin.”

Congressman O’Rourke’s Foster Children Opportunity Act makes the existing immigration law work better for child abuse or neglect victims, by creating complementary protections. It authorizes federal agencies to inform state child welfare agencies and court officials about SIJS, and it requires child welfare agencies to screen immigrant children in foster care for SIJS eligibility. It clarifies that the federal government will reimburse state and local governments for costs they incurred providing care for kids who qualify for SIJS. And it ensures that SIJS-eligible children can qualify for federal health, nutrition, and other benefits without the five-year waiting period imposed on other immigrants.

The First Focus Campaign for Children led more than 175 state and national organizations in commending Congressman O’Rourke for introducing this important legislation. The text of their endorsement letter and the complete list of signatories are attached below.

“We thank Congressman O’Rourke and his colleagues for working together to give immigrant kids living in foster care a fighting chance at leading healthy and productive adult lives,” said Lesley.

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are a priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

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 or removal of their parents. Specific Humane Enforcement and Legal Protections for Separated Children Act (“HELP” Separated Children Act) provisions would:

• Allow parents affected by immigration enforcement to make calls to arrange for the care of their children;

• Ensure that children can call or visit their parents while they are detained;

• Allow parents to participate in state child welfare agency and family court proceedings affecting their children;

• Ensure that parents being removed from or voluntarily departing the United States can coordinate their repatriation with their children;

• Require immigration officials to consider the best interests of children in detention, release, and transfer decisions affecting their parents; and

• Provide training for immigration and detention facility personnel on best practices for protecting children.

The amendment was passed on a unanimous recorded vote of 18-0. In response, First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley released the following statement:

“Immigration enforcement tears children and parents apart. But the bipartisan Franken-Grassley amendment helps protect kids and keeps families together. The Franken-Grassley amendment will let immigration officials focus on law enforcement, state child welfare agencies focus scarce resources where they’re most needed, and give kids a better chance at staying with their families.”

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

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 instead of solving this problem, this bill makes it worse. Parents should demand better from Congress as the Farm Bill debate moves forward.”

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit "http://www.ffcampaignforchildren.org>www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

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,” said Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley.

Several senators have filed amendments to the immigration reform bill (S. 744) that would compromise children’s immigration status eligibility by changing the immigration law’s definition of “public charge.” Specifically:

• Amendment 10 by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) would alter the long-standing “public charge” test, which applicants for immigration benefits must pass, by specifying that children and others seeking a path to citizenship would be denied if they had received health care through Medicaid or food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);

• Amendment 25 by Sen. Sessions would make children and other applicants ineligible for registered provisional immigrant (RPI) status if they are “likely” in the future to get health care through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) or Medicaid, or to get food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);

• Amendment 26 by Sen. Sessions would make children and other applicants ineligible for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status if they are “likely” in the future to get health care through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicaid, or health care affordability tax credits under the Affordable Care Act;

• Amendment 27 by Sen. Sessions would make children and other applicants ineligible for LPR status if they are “likely” in the future to get health care through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicaid, or health care affordability tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, disability assistance through Supplemental Security Income, or to get food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);

• Amendment 28 by Sen. Sessions would make children and other applicants ineligible for LPR status if they are “likely” in the future to get state-sponsored, means-tested benefits of any sort, or a range of federal health benefits, including health care through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicaid, or health care affordability tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, or to get food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);

• Amendment 5 by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) would increase the bill’s income requirement for children and other applicants for extension of RPI from an average of 100 percent of the federal poverty level applicable to their family to 125 percent of that level;

“CHIP, SNAP, and Medicaid are lifelines for kids, and a vote for these amendments is a vote to cut those lifelines,” said Lesley.

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

Washington – The bipartisan First Focus Campaign for Children sent letters today to congressional agriculture committee members, urging them to protect critical investments in child nutrition. The letters, to the chairs and ranking members of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee and the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee, were sent as each body prepared to consider “Farm Bill” legislation affecting initiatives that fight child hunger and obesity: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), SNAP-Education (“SNAP-Ed”), and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP).

“One in five kids will go to bed tonight not knowing if they or someone in their family will have enough to eat tomorrow,” said Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley. “This is a critical time for Congress to protect investments that reduce child hunger and obesity.”

The Senate Agriculture Committee’s draft Farm Bill protects the FFVP and the SNAP- Ed program. However, it cuts SNAP funding by $4.1 billion over 10 years. The House committee’s bill cuts SNAP by more than $21 billion, including an estimated $274 million cut to SNAP-Ed. It also weakens the FFVP, by permitting schools to serve canned, dried, and frozen fruit and vegetable products as though they were “fresh.”

FFVP provides funding to help local schools make fresh produce available to children in low-income communities. SNAP- Ed funds local schools’ efforts to inform students about healthy food choices and the benefits of healthy eating. SNAP- Ed also helps parents learn how to buy and prepare healthy foods and get the most nutritional value for every SNAP dollar. SNAP is the largest federal child nutrition initiative, serving more than 20 million children every year. An estimated 47¢ of every SNAP dollar goes to feed children.

“SNAP, SNAP- Ed, and FFVP work together to tear down the knowledge and cost barriers that stand between children and nutritious diets,” said Lesley. “If Congress is serious about fighting child hunger and curbing the childhood obesity epidemic, it’s essential to protect every one of these initiatives.”

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

Washington – The First Focus Campaign for Children and the Women's Refugee Commission today applauded U.S. Senators Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for filing an amendment to strengthen protections for children in the Senate “Gang of 8” comprehensive immigration reform bill. The amendment is also cosponsored by Democratic Senators Chris Coons (Del.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), and Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), and by Republican Senator John Cornyn (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 or removal of their parents.

“Immigration enforcement tears children and parents apart,” said Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley. “But the bipartisan Franken-Grassley amendment gives kids a better chance to stay with family and other trusted adults.”

“Over the past several years, the Women’s Refugee Commission has interviewed countless parents in immigration detention who had no idea where their children were, simply because they were apprehended without having a chance to arrange for their children’s care,” said Emily Butera, with the Migrant Rights and Justice Program of the Women’s Refugee Commission. “This amendment represents a humane, sensible solution.”

“Our broken immigration system has for far too long lacked basic humanitarian protections for children in enforcement actions,” said Sen. Franken. “Too often, the children – most of them citizens and legal residents – are overlooked or placed in the child welfare system because of poor policy. That's why I've introduced the bipartisan HELP Separated Children amendment with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).”

The base bill (S. 744) provides several important improvements over current law for children placed in foster care following a parent’s detention or removal. But it does not address current immigration enforcement policies that prevent parents from making decisions regarding their child’s care and increase the likelihood that children in such situations will be unnecessarily placed in foster care during a parent’s immigration proceedings.

The amendment’s Humane Enforcement and Legal Protections for Separated Children Act (“HELP” Separated Children Act) provisions would:

• Allow parents to make calls to arrange for the care of their children;

• Ensure that children can call or visit their parents while they are detained;

• Allow parents to participate in state child welfare agency and family court proceedings affecting their children;

• Ensure that parents being removed from or voluntarily departing the United States can coordinate their repatriation with their children;

• Require immigration officials to consider the best interests of children in detention, release, and transfer decisions affecting their parents; and

• Provide training for immigration and detention facility personnel on best practices for protecting children.

The Pew Hispanic Center reported in 2011 that 5.5 million children, 4.5 million of whom are U.S. citizens, have at least one parent who is an undocumented immigrant and, therefore, are at risk of separation following an immigration enforcement action. More than 5,000 children were in state foster care systems because of immigration enforcement actions against a parent, according to a 2011 Applied Research Center analysis. That analysis projected that the number would jump to 15,000 within five years under the status quo.

The amendment enjoys diverse support. More than 60 child welfare, faith, and immigrant advocacy organizations have endorsed the bipartisan proposal.

“This important piece of legislation ensures that immigration enforcement does not get in the way of a parents’ right to make decisions about the care and well-being of their children,” said Butera.

“The Franken-Grassley amendment would let immigration officials focus on law enforcement, state child welfare agencies focus scarce resources where they’re most needed, and give kids a better chance at staying with their families,” said Lesley.

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

The Women's Refugee Commission was established in 1989 to address the particular needs of refugee and displaced women and children. The Women's Refugee Commission is affiliated with and is legally part of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. It does not receive direct financial support from the IRC. For more information, visit www.womensrefugeecommission.org.