Today, First Focus Campaign for Children sent a letter to Rep. Chip Roy, author of the Border Safety and Security Act of 2023 (H.R. 29) to state our opposition to the bill and to urge him to instead support legislation that advances the safety and well-being of immigrant children and families.
Excerpt from the letter:
This legislation would result in certain harm for children. Under the current policy of expulsions under Title 42, between March 2020 and May 2022 DHS expelled over 125,000 children to Mexico under Title 42, over 30,000 of whom were children 3 and under. Cato Institute found that about 41 percent of these expulsions took place at midnight or later, making children and families uniquely vulnerable to kidnapping, trafficking, and violence. Additionally, Title 42 has been a tool for family separation, which has been condemned as an egregious result of past immigration policies by policymakers of all parties. According to data requested through a Freedom of Information Act request, more than 12,000 children in fiscal year 2021 entered the U.S. as unaccompanied children after previously being expelled with their parents under Title 42 as parents made the impossible choice to send their children to the border alone in hopes that they will find safety.