Washington, D.C. –
U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Representatives Dan Goldman (D-NY-10) and Delia Ramirez (D-IL-03) introduced new bicameral legislation today to repeal excessive fees and other provisions that threaten the safety of unaccompanied children. The Upholding Protections for Unaccompanied Children Act of 2025 would amend sections of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), the federal budget reconciliation bill enacted in July 2025, that erected barriers to accessing the long-standing, bipartisan protection system for unaccompanied children.
“The Upholding Protections for Unaccompanied Children Act would help ensure continued access to a fair and humane path to protection for children who have already endured violence, exploitation, and trafficking,” said KIND President Wendy Young. “The OBBBA levies unprecedented and onerous fees that will impede and even block many children’s pursuit of life-saving humanitarian protection in the United States and make children more vulnerable to traffickers and other bad actors who will exploit these fees to prey on impacted children.”
The Upholding Protections for Unaccompanied Children Act would:
- Exempt unaccompanied children from the new and increased fees that effectively block their access to humanitarian protection and create opportunities for traffickers and exploiters to leverage that debt, including a fee to cross the border and to apply for asylum.
- Eliminate the fee for abandoned, abused, or neglected children to petition for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS).
- Repeal the provision funding summary return of “specified” unaccompanied children, which bypasses their opportunity to receive a fair legal proceeding and robust trafficking screenings.
- Repeal the provisions on intrusive physical examinations of children in government custody.
- Promote safe sponsor placements for unaccompanied children by preventing information gathered about potential sponsors by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) with OBBBA funding from being shared with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for immigration enforcement, which often discourages families from coming forward and significantly extends the amount of time children are held in custody.
KIND urges Congress to support the Upholding Protections for Unaccompanied Children Act and uphold fundamental protections for unaccompanied children seeking safety.
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Media Contact: Megan McKenna, mmckenna@supportkind.org, 202-631-9990