Wyden Renews Demand for Trump Administration to Terminate Coercive Policy Targeting Unaccompanied Children
Follow-Up Letter Cites Newly Obtained CBP Document Which Misrepresents Children’s Legal Rights And Pressures Them to Leave U.S.
Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sent a follow-up letter today to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Rodney Scott renewing his demand that CBP end a policy that pressures unaccompanied children to leave the United States without accessing legal protections guaranteed under federal law. The letter was sent after the Committee obtained CBP’s “UAC Processing Pathway Advisal,” a document that heightens concerns first conveyed on November 4.
“The Advisal is shockingly coercive, clearly intended to frighten unaccompanied children into abandoning the legal relief and protections they are seeking,” Wyden wrote. “The Advisal heightens the concerns expressed in my previous letter and confirms that CBP’s new policy is designed to boost deportation numbers at the expense of the most vulnerable. I am therefore renewing my demand that CBP terminate this cruel policy.”
The letter explains that the CBP document misrepresents obligations established under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and misleads children by warning of prolonged detention, jeopardy to family sponsors, and guaranteed transfer to ICE custody upon turning 18. The letter also identifies a broader pattern in which family separation is used as a pressure tactic to deter children from seeking lawful protection.
This letter builds on continued oversight by Wyden on the treatment of unaccompanied children. Wyden first exposed CBP’s efforts to intervene in cases involving unaccompanied children earlier this month. The agency responded to Wyden’s request here. In September, Wyden sounded the alarm on the Trump administration’s attempts to deport vulnerable unaccompanied children to Guatemala, calling the effort a violation of U.S. law and human rights.
The full letter can be found here. A copy of the document from CBP can be found here.
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