Late on March 22 – nearly halfway into this fiscal year – Congress finally passed an FY 2024 appropriations bill that will keep the government funded through September 30. The bill covered a number of key refugee accounts and policies, including the account that supports services for unaccompanied children under the Refugee and Entrant Assistance Account (REA), administered by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).
While important funding and executive oversight language was included in the legislation, the bill still represents a dramatic cut in funding for vital refugee accounts that, without further action from Congress, could result in historic cuts in programming and community support – while endangering critical services, including legal services and post-release services for unaccompanied children.
That’s because in the last few fiscal years, a significant proportion of the funding for the overall refugee accounts that fund unaccompanied children services came in the form of emergency, additive spending bills that Congress and the administration worked together to pass to supplement full-year funding measures. No supplemental bill has moved yet this fiscal year (despite the Biden administration asking Congress for more than $10 billion for additional humanitarian aid). As a result, the FY 2024 funding bill functionally means a $4.4 billion cut to ORR from FY 2023 funding levels.
As Congress considers supplemental funding in FY 2024 and full year funding for FY 2025, now is a critical time for Congress to ensure unaccompanied children and their caregivers receive the support they need so that children have a safe and stable home. Unaccompanied children and their families need child-appropriate, trauma-informed, and culturally and linguistically competent care and services that help them thrive in their homes and communities.
Join us TODAY in calling on the House and Senate to robustly fund our communities’ capacity to welcome and protect unaccompanied children by investing in post-release services, home studies, child advocates, legal representation, mental health services, and local services that support them and their families.
CONTACT YOUR TWO SENATORS AND ONE REPRESENTATIVE TODAY
On the right-hand side, you can send an email that connects you to your Members of Congress!
Sample Email/Script: “My name is [INSERT NAME]. As your constituent from [CITY/TOWN], and [as a person of faith/refugee/member of my community], I call on you to support provisions in upcoming funding and appropriations negotiations that ensure unaccompanied children and their caregivers receive the support they need so that children have a safe and stable home and community where they are protected and able to thrive.
In a potential FY 2024 supplemental funding bill, I urge you to support:
- $2.334 billion in additional funding for the Refugee and Entrant Assistance (REA) account that funds ORR for the refugee resettlement and unaccompanied children programs (equal to the Biden administration’s October supplemental request).
- For full supplemental funding recommendations, see: bit.ly/FY24RefugeePrioritiesNovember2023.
- For full supplemental funding recommendations specific to unaccompanied children, see: bit.ly/FY24CRUnaccompaniedChildren
In FY 2025 appropriations legislation, I urge you to support:
- In the LHHS funding bill, $11.795 billion for the Refugee and Entrant Assistance (REA) account to support the Office of Refugee Resettlement. This funding provides critical support for unaccompanied children and their families, including:
- Post-release services and promptly-completed and culturally competent home studies. Post-release services and home studies for unaccompanied children ensure that family reunifications are and remain safe and stable. Post-release services provide each child with access to education, medical and mental healthcare, and other services. Through child-centered, trauma-informed, culturally and linguistically competent case management, these services ensure that each child has a safe and stable home placement where they can learn, grow and thrive. The services also provide parental support to new caregivers and facilitate integration with local communities.
- Legal services. Attorneys guide children through the immigration process, try to ensure a fair adjudication of their immigration cases, and can identify rights violations, such as exploitation and trafficking. With this support, children and families thrive.
- Child advocates. Child advocates push decision-makers to prioritize each child’s best interests, including their safety and well-being.
- Mental health services. Most unaccompanied children have experienced trauma and need mental healthcare. Government funding is critical to ensure that all unaccompanied children receive evidence-based and trauma-informed mental healthcare that is culturally appropriate and in the child’s main language. Children should also have access to specialized services that are most effective when children are released.
- For full LHHS refugee priorities, see: bit.ly/FY25LHHSRefugeeAccounts
- I also urge you to support oversight language to ensure the unaccompanied children’s program is sustainable and resilient. For more information on FY2025 appropriations and oversight priorities related to unaccompanied and separated children, see: bit.ly/FY25CWSUCApprop.
I call on you to live up to our nation’s legacy as a place of refuge for those fleeing danger, especially children, and to ensure that upcoming appropriations legislation includes investments in policies and accounts that expand our capacity to welcome. My community welcomes and supports unaccompanied children and all asylum seekers with compassion and dignity, and I urge you to do the same.”
AMPLIFY ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Share this message with your Senators & Representatives on social media. Below are some sample posts and graphics:
- [@legislator] It is critical for #Congress to fund post-release services, home studies, child advocates, legal representation, and mental health services for every unaccompanied child, ensuring not only children’s protection, but also their ability to thrive.
- [@legislator] I’m calling on #Congress to protect unaccompanied children, and all children, by funding programs that ensure unaccompanied children and their caregivers receive the support they need to have a safe and stable home and community.
- [@legislator] Government funding must ensure unaccompanied children and their families have access to child-appropriate, trauma-informed, and culturally and linguistically competent care and services that help them thrive and keep them safe.
- [@legislator] I call on #Congress to live up to our nation’s legacy as a place of refuge for those fleeing danger, especially children, and to invest in policies and accounts that expand our capacity to welcome.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Thank you for taking action, and please share this alert with your networks!