Spending bill must be rewritten to include protections for children
In a message sent today to all 100 U.S. senators, First Focus Campaign for Children urged lawmakers to separate funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from other spending bills in order to prevent disruptions to child-critical programs and avoid a government shutdown.
The government spending bills recently passed by the House of Representatives for fiscal year 2026 link resources for child-centered programs such as child care, maternal health, and education to vehicles that will also fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which falls under DHS.
“Across the country, actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have disrupted families, caused trauma to children, and placed young lives at risk,” the message says. “As advocates for children, we urge lawmakers to reject funding for the Homeland Security bill until it is rewritten to include meaningful protections for children.”
Those protections should include:
- Protect and expand the Flores Settlement
- End child and family detention
- Restore sensitive location protections
- Demand congressional oversight and accountability for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security
- Guarantee legal and judicial protections for children — and keep families together whenever possible
- Require adherence to a “best interests” standard when addressing children