FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 1, 2025
CONTACT: press@acaciajustice.org
WASHINGTON – Shaina Aber, Executive Director of the Acacia Center for Justice, released the following statement thanking Congressman Jason Crow and Congressman Dan Goldman in leading a group of nearly 100 House members in a letter demanding that Health and Human Services and the Department of the Interior restore the Unaccompanied Children Program’s contract for legal services for children navigating the immigration system alone:
“We are grateful for the leadership of Representatives Crow and Goldman in defending the right of children who are navigating the immigration system alone to receive child-tailored legal orientations and a chance at representation as mandated under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2008 and Federal Regulation.
“Children who arrive in the U.S. unaccompanied by parents or legal guardians have often survived targeted violence, abuse, persecution, or trafficking. Legal providers working with these children provide a critical safeguard in protecting them from further harm or exploitation. Particularly at a time when the administration is expediting removal proceedings that force people through our nation’s deportation system at an alarming rate, legal services for vulnerable children are more crucial than ever.”
On March 21, 2025, the administration issued a near-total termination of services under the Unaccompanied Children Program, leaving more than 26,000 children without access to representation in immigration court. In response to attacks on the Unaccompanied Children Program, members of the public have sent more than 127,000 letters to Members of Congress demanding an immediate restoration of funding for the program’s services.
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