Today, First Focus Campaign for Children sent a letter to Rep. John Carter, author of the Protection for Children Act of 2023 (H.R. 2417) to state our opposition to the bill.
Excerpt from the letter:
For more than a decade, the demographic of those arriving at our border seeking safety has shifted to a greater proportion of children and families.1 These children and families make a perilous journey to flee persecution, trafficking, and abuse in their countries of origin.2 Too often when children and families arrive at our borders and request humanitarian protection, they are met with detention and a complex and confusing immigration system that they must navigate without support, at an increased risk of being returned to the very persecution, trafficking, or abuse they fled. We are concerned that contrary to its name, this legislation would do nothing to protect children but rather would undermine important protections in our federal laws to ensure children’s safety, health, and well-being.