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INS Treatment of Children in Detention Jeopardizes Asylum Claims

New York, NY

Unaccompanied children in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) are caught in a system biased toward law enforcement and removal of children from the United States, according to a new report, Prison Guard or Parent? INS Treatment of Unaccompanied Refugee Children, released today by the New York-based Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children.

"Despite the growing numbers of children asylum seekers arriving in the U.S. on their own, the INS fails to address their basic care or their legal needs," says Wendy Young, Director of Government Relations and US Programs for the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children. "The individual needs of a child are too often sacrificed to the INS's law enforcement goals."

The report is based on the findings of a Women’s Commission delegation that assessed conditions of detention for children held in the custody of the INS. The delegation visited eight juvenile detention centers in Texas, California, Washington and Oregon during August 2001.

Children make up half the population of all persons displaced by conflict worldwide. The number of children entering the United States on their own and apprehended by the INS has climbed rapidly since 1997, to almost 5,000 a year. The children are fleeing armed conflict and human rights abuses, including forced military recruitment, female genital mutilation, forced marriages, forced prostitution, child labor, and life as street children. Others have been compelled to leave their homes because their parents or caregivers have abused, abandoned, or neglected them.

Current U.S. immigration law requires that unaccompanied children in the custody of the INS be placed in the least restrictive setting appropriate after apprehension by the INS. However, in 1999, the INS estimated that out of a total of 5,644 custody incidences, 1,958 were placed in secure settings. Some of these children were held in such settings for months at a time, some as long as two years. Some were housed alongside violent juvenile offenders. The INS admitted that only 12 percent of these custody cases fell into one of the acceptable categories for secure confinement.

One 14-year-old asylum seeker from Honduras, who was held four months in San Diego Juvenile Hall, says: “I crossed a border, no more. But they treat me as if I am a criminal. Other boys here have used weapons and drugs. All I did was cross a border. All I can do is look at these four walls and go crazy.”

Even in the least restrictive detention centers, children face numerous obstacles to presenting a case for asylum. Detention centers are often located far from cities where pro bono immigration lawyers work, making it difficult for children to obtain legal assistance. U.S. law fails entirely to appoint guardians ad litem for children in asylum proceedings.

Children may be forced to choose between release to a family member and exposing undocumented family members to the INS, thus risking their family members’ deportation. Translators may not be available for the children to communicate with detention center staff. Education and recreation are inadequate to meet the needs of children living at the detention centers over the long term.

Congress is currently considering legislation that would dramatically change how child asylum seekers and immigrants are treated in the United States. The “Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act,” introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) in the Senate (S. 121) and by Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Chris Cannon (R-UT) in the House of Representatives (H.R. 1904), has garnered bipartisan support.

The legislation would resolve the conflict of interest that the INS experiences with children in immigration proceedings by transferring care and custody of such children to a new Office of Children’s Services (OCS). The OCS would be part of the Department of Justice, but outside of the INS, and would be staffed by professionals with child welfare expertise. The OCS would have no direct interest in the outcome of a child’s asylum or immigration case, thereby enabling the INS to focus its efforts on its law enforcement objectives. The legislation would also ensure that children receive legal representation and the assistance of guardians ad litem.

"Congress needs to pass this bill immediately. Legislation is really the only solution to the problems children confront when they arrive alone in the U.S.," says Ms. Young. "The INS has proven it can't get the job done right, so Congress must transfer the custody of children to a child welfare agency."

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Women’s Commission Experts Available for Interviews: 

Wendy Young, Director of Government Relations and US Programs.

Contact: Megan McKenna for more information, 212-551-0959, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

A full copy of the report is posted on the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children’s website www.womenscommission.org at /reports/wc_children_in_INS_detention_05.02.pdf

For a printed copy of the report, contact the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children at 212.551.3088.

The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children  works to ensure that refugee and displaced women, children and adolescents are given protection, encouraged to participate, and have access to education, health services and livelihood opportunities. Through a vigorous and comprehensive program of advocacy, supported by extensive research and technical expertise, the Women's Commission serves as an expert resource and works with governments, United Nations agencies, international and local non governmental organizations, and donors to improve the lives of displaced women and children. The Women's Commission was founded in 1989 under the auspices of the International Rescue Committee.