To streamline the reporting of violations against immigrant children in Federal custody, to provide protections for unaccompanied immigrant children, and to ensure safe release to sponsors, and for other purposes.
About This Bill
Committee
Latest Action · October 25, 2023
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
# Protecting Unaccompanied Children Act Summary
This bill creates comprehensive protections for unaccompanied immigrant children in federal custody and establishes a new oversight office within the Department of Health and Human Services. It creates an independent Ombudsperson position tasked with monitoring immigration detention facilities, investigating abuse and mistreatment claims, and ensuring children are held in the least restrictive settings possible. The Ombudsperson will have broad access to facilities, case files, and data, with authority to issue subpoenas and report findings to Congress annually.
The legislation strengthens legal protections and services for unaccompanied children by guaranteeing government-provided legal representation in immigration court proceedings, establishing specialized children's dockets with trained judges, and ensuring children can reopen cases if they were denied counsel. It expands access to post-release services by requiring in-person home visits within 90 days of release and creating state-level coordinators to connect children with educational, medical, and social services regardless of their current custody status.
The bill prioritizes small-scale, family-like placements for children, requiring facilities to transition kids to foster care or shelters with 25 or fewer beds when possible. It strengthens sponsor vetting by requiring background checks for non-parent sponsors and establishing a searchable database to track safety concerns and trafficking reports, while explicitly preventing this information from being shared with immigration enforcement agencies.
Additionally, the bill removes visa caps for special immigrant juveniles, eliminates numerical limits on U visas for crime victims, extends Medicaid eligibility to certain immigrant children granted status, and broadens protections for child labor trafficking victims. It authorizes necessary appropriations and provides $30 million in supplemental funding for each additional 500 unaccompanied children processed above 10,000 per month.
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