Child Migration

Support CGRS work to secure greatly needed protections for refugee and immigrant children. 

Refugee Children at the Border ­

Migrant children are risking their lives to seek safety, stability, and protection in the U.S. They are fleeing abusive family situations, labor and sex trafficking, gang and drug cartel violence, a lack of educational opportunities, and other deprivations as well as governments that are unable to keep them safe. 

Our Proposed Solutions

CGRS, in collaboration with other national organizations, is leading the charge to protect migrant children. CGRS is working on several fronts, tackling why children flee their homes, the injustices they face during their journeys and in the U.S. immigration system, and the perils that await them when they are returned to their home countries.

The recommendations included in our report, A Treacherous Journey: Child Migrants Navigating the U.S. Immigration System, urge the U.S. government to apply international standards, including mandating a child-sensitive approach to the children’s claims for immigration relief and following the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child instruction that the best interests of the child be a primary consideration in all actions and decisions made in a child’s case. Our most recent report, Childhood and Migration in Central and North America: Causes, Policies, Practices, and Challenges, examines treatment of child migrants along the migration corridor and contains regional policy recommendations to ensure protections for migrant children.  

CGRS's solution-oriented approach includes:

1. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: Providing technical assistance and training nationally and in the San Francisco Bay Area for attorneys, other advocates, and service providers to assist arriving children and their families and ensure positive outcomes in their asylum cases.

2. RESOURCES: Developing resources to support children’s asylum claims in the Bay Area and nationally, including an updated legal practice advisory on children’s asylum claims and expert affidavits on conditions for children in El Salvador and Honduras.

3. LITIGATION: Litigating key children’s cases that have the potential to set legal precedent.

4. POLICY ADVOCACY: Advocating that the U.S. must treat child migrants as children first and foremost, devise policy solutions appropriate for children in these circumstances, and address the root causes that force them to migrate. 

How You Can Get Involved  

Support Us

You can support our efforts to ensure that children arriving in the United States experience child-sensitive treatment, appropriate to their age and development, and that they encounter a fair and just immigration system. Make a gift today.

Contact Your Representatives and the Obama Administration

Congress and the Administration need to hear that the American people care about vulnerable children. We need to tell them that we expect our government to protect children, not send them back to be killed or tortured. Contact your Senators, Representatives and the White House (202-456-1111) today and deliver the message that more must be done to ensure adequate protections for unaccompanied children arriving at the border. 

Banner image photo credit Mike Varel, above image photo credit Erik Torner