Senate Bill Puts Children at Risk of Trafficking and Exploitation, Establishes Pay-to- Play Protection System
Washington, DC— Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) decries Senate passage of a reconciliation bill that imposes egregious harm on unaccompanied children fleeing danger in their home countries, effectively ending key elements of the U.S. protection system that safeguards these children from speedy return to the dangers they fled. An unprecedented fee structure would charge children $5,000 upon arrival just to ask for protection and gain access to trafficking and protection screenings. Additionally, children will be charged hundreds of dollars to seek legal protection – a gift to traffickers who leverage debt to exploit children. It further imposes strip searches of children arriving at the border, funds indefinite detention of families, and imposes new requirements on sponsors that threaten to prevent safe caregivers, including parents and legal guardians, from reuniting with their children.
Following today’s vote, KIND President Wendy Young issued the following statement:
“The Senate has voted to eviscerate key anti-trafficking protections contained in the bipartisan Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA), including safeguards that protect against summary removal from the United States, require children’s prompt release to safe sponsors, and facilitate their access to asylum and other legal protections. By removing these protections and creating novel fees that will be cost prohibitive for children, the bill will expose children to increased risk for human trafficking, sexual exploitation, abuse, and other dangers. The bill tears down decades of progress rooted in putting child protection above politics. It will without question make these children less safe and far more vulnerable to those who would take advantage of their vulnerability.”
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For more information or to request an interview with KIND, contact Hannah Gavin (hgavin@westendstrategy.com).