Immigration Resources
Resources regarding immigrant children in federal custody, and immigrant children in communities

Resources regarding immigrant children in federal custody:

  • Website: Unaccompanied Children Legal Support Center (March 2025)
    • This website provides resources designed to assist attorneys and child advocates in understanding and enforcing the rights of unaccompanied children. These resources include information drawn from federal law, regulations, agency policies, and court orders.

 

  • Update: Updates on Protections for Unaccompanied Children: The ORR Foundational Rule and the Flores Settlement Agreement (July 2024)
    • This update summarizes recent legal developments that have shifted the landscape of rights for unaccompanied children, including the ORR Foundational Rule and court order modifying the Flores Settlement.

 

  • Briefing: Correcting Course: Restoring the critical protections of placement in licensed facilities for children in federal immigration custody (April 2023)
    • This briefing provides policymakers an overview of the modern child welfare consensus around family-based, state-licensed care, the state licensing requirement in the Flores Settlement, the dangers of continued reliance on unlicensed facilities, and recommendations to decrease the government’s reliance on unlicensed placements.

 

  • Briefing: Unregulated & Unsafe: The Use of Emergency Intake Sites to Detain Immigrant Children (June 2022)
    • This briefing describes the government’s use of Emergency Intake Sites (EISs) to detain immigrant children, featuring children’s experiences in their own words, observations from Flores site visits, and data regarding children’s stays in EISs.

 

  • Briefing: A New Way Forward: What Congress Must Do to Protect the Dignity, Health, and Safety of Children in Immigration Custody (January 2021)
    • This briefing provides detailed recommendations regarding how Congress can legislate a comprehensive set of protections for children in federal immigration custody.

 

  • Guide: Guidance for Mental Health Professionals Serving Unaccompanied Children Released from Government Custody (November 2021)
    • Developed by children’s rights attorneys and mental health experts on trauma and immigration, this Guide provides context on the distinctive experiences unaccompanied children carry with them and offers guidance on how to meet the therapeutic needs of these children.

 

  • Briefing: Child Welfare & Unaccompanied Children in Federal Immigration Custody: A Data and Research Based Guide for Federal Policy Makers (December 2019)
    • This briefing summarizes new data analysis, child welfare research, and two decades of lessons learned from implementing the Flores Settlement Agreement.

 

  • Briefing: The Flores Settlement Agreement & Unaccompanied Children in Federal Custody (February 2019)
    • This briefing provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of unaccompanied children in ORR custody, such that legislators can pursue solutions to protect the best interests of this vulnerable population.

 

Resources regarding immigrant children in the community:

  • Toolkit: Educational Advocacy for Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth in California (May 2024)
    • This toolkit provides advocates for unaccompanied children with a summary of the laws and policies available to advocate for these children’s meaningful access to education.

 

  • FAQ: Using the California Caregiver Affidavit as a Non-Relative or Relative “Sponsor” of Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth (May 2024)

 

  • Toolkit for Child Welfare Professionals in California: Strengthening Child Welfare Practice for Immigrant Children & Families (August 2019)
    • Co-authored by National Center for Youth Law and Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the objective of this Toolkit is to provide guidance to child welfare agencies in California working with immigrant children and families.

 

  • Primer and Benchcard for Juvenile Court Judges: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Judicial Decision-Making for Newcomer Immigrant Youth in Juvenile Justice Proceedings (February 2019)
    • Created by attorneys and mental health experts on trauma, juvenile justice, and immigration, this primer and accompanying benchcard for juvenile court judges presents a trauma-informed approach to judicial decision-making for newcomer immigrant youth in juvenile justice proceedings.

 

If you have any questions, please reach out to our team at immigration@youthlaw.org.