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Dear Senator/Representative,
As a supporter of Catholics Confront Global Poverty, an initiative of Catholic Relief Services and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, I write with profound concern for the tens of thousands of unaccompanied children and families from Central America arriving in the United States after fleeing their homeland. As your constituent, I urge you to take immediate action to ensure that these children are protected before, during and after their journeys and to address the root causes of why they are leaving their homes.
Many unaccompanied youth suffer a lack of educational and economic opportunities, and ultimately flee due to violence from organized criminal networks in their countries, which has increasingly stained and strained the fabric of their societies. The breakdown of the family unit, caused by the absence of physical and economic security, has also caused children to find safe haven with family members in the United States.
The Catholic Church, through its many social service agencies in the U.S., Central America and Mexico, including Migration and Refugees Services, Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, is responding to the plight of these children based on the principles of Catholic social teaching and international child protection: all people have a right to migrate, but also the right not to migrate and to meet their needs where they are. In addition, all child welfare care decisions should be made according to the best interest of the child.
It is imperative that the U.S. government respond holistically and urgently to the humanitarian needs of the thousands of unaccompanied Central American youth in need of protection in the following ways:
* Provide $3.167 billion in Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) funding for FY2015, thereby assuring sufficient funding for the anticipated number of unaccompanied children arriving next year and also for the other vulnerable populations that ORR serves.
* Establish a no-year, $2 billion, interagency Migration Contingency Fund for the Departments of State, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services/ORR, and Justice.
* Increase funding for ORR's Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) program to assure longer-term care for some of the most vulnerable unaccompanied children who qualify.
* Oppose the Obama Administration's request for "fast track" authority to deport unaccompanied children back to danger, undermining their due process rights.
* Address the root causes of violence and the lack of opportunity that have compelled children to leave their homes, thereby reducing the number of at-risk children.
* Implement a peacebuilding approach to reduce the violence in Central America. This approach would include community-based gang interventions, programs to strengthen families, and community engagement and dialogue.
* Target international assistance in the region to address the security and economic crises in Central America, specifically through proven community-based grants and cooperative agreements;
* Fund programs to ensure robust and safe reintegration of children who have been repatriated back to their home countries.
* Place families with children in alternatives to detention and ensure they receive their day in court to articulate their asylum claims.
Working to holistically address the many complex factors spurring flight - economic and social - is the only way to help youth to find hope and opportunities in their home communities. Please ensure that any supplemental funding you provide for FY 2014 and future Congressional actions address the concerns enumerated here.
Thank you for your attention to this issue. As a concerned citizen and committed Catholic, I believe that even in these austere times we have an obligation to those who are vulnerable.
Sincerely,
CCGP Supporter
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