Now is the Time to Hire Child Welfare Professionals at the Border

Last week while visiting Ciudad Juarez I watched a young girl and her family approach the U.S.-Mexico border. They were poised to present themselves to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials stationed at the other side—in El Paso, Texas—with new and safer lives on the horizon.

I had travelled to the area amid a sharp rise in migrants requesting asylum there. Driven in part by an exodus of Venezuelans escaping government repression and other dangers, this increase in border arrivals had contributed to overcrowding at local Border Patrol facilities that, like CBP structures nationwide, are neither designed for nor suited to sheltering children even under the best of circumstances. Now this young girl’s small steps toward the United States, and potentially into cramped, jail-like CBP custody, reaffirmed for me an urgent priority: that the U.S. government place child welfare professionals in border facilities to ensure children’s proper treatment.

Migrant children enter CBP custody uniquely vulnerable. My organization, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), sees this firsthand—our legal and social services staff work directly with children along the U.S. and Mexico sides of the border. We regularly serve children who have faced acute harm and trauma in the countries they fled as well as during the journey north. That suffering, combined with developmental, comprehension, and communication vulnerabilities, makes it imperative that licensed child welfare professionals are present in CBP facilities to administer children’s care and screening.

Imperative, but far from the reality on the ground. Across the country, CBP law enforcement personnel, or other unlicensed staff without developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed expertise, manage those responsibilities. In many cases, such personnel understandably would prefer not to perform those duties at all in lieu of the law enforcement functions they signed up and are trained for. As it is, the absence of child welfare professionals in CBP facilities undermines the safety and welfare of impacted children while creating widespread operational inefficiencies by diverting existing staff.

To its credit, Congress recognized these problems. In March 2022—for the first time—it dedicated funding to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), of which CBP is part, for the hiring of licensed child welfare professionals at the border. Now Congress is calling DHS to account. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) sent a letter to the Department this month seeking a progress update and action plan, emphasizing the “vital importance of a timely and effective deployment of child welfare professionals.”

With the ball in the Biden Administration’s court, DHS should expeditiously onboard these experts and vest in them, among other responsibilities, the below duties vital to children’s well-being:

• Ensure appropriate care of children in CBP custody

Under the binding Flores Settlement Agreement, “every effort must be taken to ensure that the safety and well-being” of children in CBP facilities “are satisfactorily provided for.” Too often CBP falls short of this standard. A recent KIND complaint filed with the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties revealed lack of adequate access to food, water, and other necessities, as well as incidents of mental and physical harm, endured by children in a number of CBP facilities. The placement of licensed child welfare professionals qualified to address children’s developmental, physical, and psychological needs would help prevent such outcomes and improve care and conditions for migrant youth.

• Protect family unity

CBP’s National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention, and Search state that the agency “will maintain family unity to the greatest extent operationally feasible.” Yet after the Trump Administration’s cruel “Zero Tolerance” family separation policy ended, CBP has carried out needless and devastating separations of children from their parents and legal guardians on unfounded child safety grounds—even though the law enforcement personnel taking these actions lack child welfare proficiency. To meet the agency’s own standard, licensed professionals should assess child welfare considerations before any separations from parents and legal guardians occur.

• Perform statutorily mandated protection screenings of unaccompanied children

The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA) requires DHS to conduct screenings of certain unaccompanied children at the border for human trafficking and other protection concerns.  Governmental and nongovernmental reports have pointed to systemic failures in CBP’s administration of those screenings, including flawed capture of potential trafficking indicators. The performance of TVPRA screenings by licensed child welfare professionals—who are specially trained in child-sensitive interviewing techniques—would result in more effective identification of protection considerations and help prevent the return of unaccompanied children into the hands of bad actors.

I do not know the fate of that young girl in Ciudad Juarez or of her family. But I am certain that migrant children like her need the expert care and screening of child welfare professionals once in CBP custody. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas affirmed it is the “best interest[s] of the child that really define our actions.” CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus emphasized “there is really nothing more important to me, and I think my colleagues at Border Patrol, than the safety of children.” Congress has afforded the Biden Administration an unprecedented opening to help make good on those commitments. Now is the time to seize it.