Center for the Children of Immigrants

Promoting the health, well-being & success of children of immigrants. Initiative of @First_Focus & @Campaign4Kids. #BestInterestOfTheChild

[Maria Sacchetti @mariasacchetti]

Trump officials broaden investigation into unaccompanied migrant children

HHS and the Pentagon agreed to team up to audit nonprofits helping kids. They say they ultimately didn’t do it.

Signal mariapost.45

More:

[Rep. Zoe Lofgren @RepZoeLofgren]

It’s heartbreaking to see little kids appearing all alone in immigration court, without a lawyer. This week, I led 15 of my colleagues to introduce the Fair Day in Court for Kids Act, to ensure that unaccompanied minors get legal representation during immigration proceedings.

[U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen @RepPettersen]

Trump's $100K visa fee wasn't just an attack on immigrants. It was an attack on hospitals, local businesses, and universities that depend on skilled workers.

A federal judge struck down Trump's policy because the judge knows what we know: that it's unlawful and unconstitutional. Another example of Trump overreach that couldn't survive the courts. 

The courts keep doing the job of reining in this president that Republicans refuse to do.
https://t.co/AQ0IGeIvxY

[Greg Siskind @gsiskind]

A reminder that Flo Balogun would not be on the US Men's National Team if Trump's birthright citizenship order was in place when he was born in NY. The first US man to score more than one goal in a World Cup match since the very first World Cup in 1930.

[The Washington Post @washingtonpost]

Rachel Accurso — Ms. Rachel, to her millions of online followers — made her first visit to Congress with handwritten letters and drawings by children whom have been, or remain, in ICE custody at the nation’s only family immigration detention center. https://t.co/vSbNAvjHHz

[Jesus Freakin Congress @TheJFreakinC]

🚨BREAKING: ICE agents kidnapped a U.S. citizen, while he was grabbing coffee, in Maryland.

Samuel Guzmán repeatedly told agents he was born in the United States. He even offered to show his ID… and they didn’t believe him.

Instead, they took his phone, wallet, and keys, shoved him in their car, illegally transported him to another location, questioned him about where he was “really” from, for 2 hours, and refused to let him call anyone.

Then, once they realized he was a U.S. citizen… they let him go without explaining why he was detained.

The Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures…. ICE agents don’t get to kidnap someone, from a coffee shop parking lot, without reasonable suspicion or probable cause.

The Fifth Amendment guarantees due process…. Holding someone against their will while refusing to tell them why, or denying them access to contact anyone, is a constitutional violation.

And the Equal Protection principles mean the government can’t target people simply because of their race, ethnicity, or the language they speak.

If you’re okay with constitutional rights disappearing the moment someone has the wrong last name, or skin color…

You were never defending law and order.

[U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen @RepPettersen]

Republicans voted this week to hand ICE and CBP an additional $70 billion — and still refused to guarantee even the most basic standards of humane treatment for the people in their custody.

No child, no senior, no one should be forced to spend days in a cramped holding cell that was designed for only a few hours of temporary processing. That's why I'm introducing legislation to ban extended long-term detention in these facilities. If we fail to uphold that basic dignity and decency, then we have lost ourselves as a country.

[Christopher Hale @ChristopherHale]

“Dear migrants, before I say any other word to you, I want to bow before your dignity.

“You are not numbers or case files.

“You are people — with a family and a home left behind, with dreams that no one has the right to scorn.” — Pope Leo XIV

[Ayanna Pressley @AyannaPressley]

The living conditions in Dilley Detention Center are unconscionable. We must close this facility immediately.

[Rep. Dan Goldman @RepDanGoldman]

First, @SecKennedy refused to pay the legal non-profits representing unaccompanied minors for work they did per a contract.

Now, @SecMullinDHS is sending federal agents to ambush their offices and demand confidential client records without a warrant.

This is disgusting intimidation and a massive waste of time, resources, and money.

The cruelty of this administration targeting the most vulnerable along us is repulsive and un-American.

[Rep. Pramila Jayapal @RepJayapal]

I am outraged by reports that the Trump Administration has attempted to raid the offices of legal service providers serving unaccompanied immigrant children.

We cannot allow this behavior to go unchecked. My full statement:

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

Florida paid a portable toilet company called Doodie Calls more than $92 million over six months to haul wastewater out of the Everglades. The state projected it would pay Doodie Calls $480 million over two years. For comparison, building a sewage treatment plant for a city of 10,000 people costs about $5 million.

That is one vendor. At one facility. Built in eight days on an Everglades airstrip using hurricane disaster funds because Ron DeSantis declared immigration a state of emergency in 2023 to access a $5 billion fund set aside for floods and hurricanes.

The facility costs between $1.2 million and $3 million per day to operate. A conservative estimate puts the annual per-capita cost at $500,000 per detainee. Florida spends $30,000 a year to house a convicted criminal in a state prison. The math on Alligator Alcatraz is not tougher than a prison. It is more than sixteen times more expensive.

Three quarters of the men held there have never been convicted of a crime. They are awaiting civil immigration proceedings. They are being held in kennels - cages with steel mesh sides, 16 bunks, three toilets, brightly lit 24 hours a day. Amnesty International documented what it called deliberate neglect designed to dehumanize, including credible allegations of men held in stress positions in direct sunlight without food or water for hours at a time.

Governor Braun opened the Speedway Slammer at an Indiana prison. The Cornhusker Clink in Nebraska. The Louisiana Lockup at Angola. The naming contest is ongoing. The cruelty is the point. The cost is someone else's problem. Florida's emergency fund has dwindled to $200 million. The facility cannot run to the end of the year.

The men in the cages are still there.

[Jesus Freakin Congress @TheJFreakinC]

🚨BREAKING: In Columbus, Ohio, ICE agents hit a U.S. citizen’s vehicle, and then admitted, on camera, that they “do this all the time”… before driving away.

A 17-year-old U.S. citizen was reportedly on his way to church, when multiple officials surrounded his car, backed into his front bumper, and jumped out of their vehicles.

When he rolled down his window, they told him…

“We got the wrong person.”

And walked back toward their cars.

The 17-year-old got out to document what happened, and told an officer they had hit his vehicle…

And the response was:

“You can take a picture if you want. We do this all the time. You’re okay.”

And then they drove off.

The Fourth Amendment protects you from unreasonable searches and seizures. And courts have made clear that a “seizure” isn’t just being arrested, or put in handcuffs.

It also includes situations where law enforcement use their authority in a way that blocks your freedom to leave… or creates an intimidating, forced encounter.

So, when officers surround a car, hit it while backing up, and pull a teenager into a sudden law enforcement interaction, with no valid reason…

At minimum, it’s a reckless stop. At worst, it’s an unlawful seizure, with property damage, and no accountability.

And then there’s the part when she casually said…

“We do this all the time.”

Because that turns an “oops” moment into a pattern.

And when that pattern violates your constitutional rights and due process, it starts to feel a lot like the government is using the Constitution like they use the Bible…

Quoted when it’s useful, ignored when it isn’t.

[The New York Times @nytimes]

Breaking News: A federal judge said the Trump administration must restart applications for asylum and other immigration processing. https://t.co/J6qdEVUSM9

[U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen @RepPettersen]

While Colorado families were sleeping, Senate Republicans passed a bill that gives $70 billion to ICE with no protections and no guardrails.

And Trump's slush fund? Not a single protection. Nothing to stop him from handing taxpayer-funded checks to insurrectionists — while giving ICE and CBP billions to continue terrorizing immigrant communities & ripping families apart.

This is what unchecked power looks like.

[Robert Downen @RobertDownen_]

"Some were U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, teenagers and senior citizens, including one widow who was a legal permanent resident receiving survivor benefits."
https://t.co/MGM6W5Bdrz

[CNN @CNN]

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is ending its policy of reporting deaths of recently released detainees, the Department of Homeland Security said – a policy change that comes amid increasing scrutiny over the deaths of immigrants in federal custody. https://t.co/mDCcd9693a

[Rep. Mike Levin @RepMikeLevin]

For more than 30 years, a federal court order has required the prompt release of children in immigration detention. Courts have interpreted that to mean no more than 20 days. 

The Trump Administration is not only violating that court order, but they are fighting in court to end it entirely. 

During Trump’s second term, more than 6,300 children have been detained, 97% of whom have no criminal record, and some of whom are only two months old.  

This Administration has gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure you never see what is happening to these children.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Frankel to Rubio: "It is crazy that you want to let people in from South Africa because they can assimilate, while you're throwing out hundreds of thousands of people who have already assimilated and that are important parts of our economy and family life."

[Andy Kim @AndyKimNJ]

A highschool senior, a pregnant woman, and a man with Stage Three cancer. These are the people I met in Delaney Hall. When DHS tells you they are only arresting the worst of the worst, they're lying. These are everyday people kept in inhumane conditions with our tax dollars.