Cortez Masto, Smith Introduce Legislation Protecting Children Harmed by ICE Actions Against Their Parents

ICE agents have been documented using children to bait parents into compliance with immigration enforcement

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) introduced the Humane Enforcement and Legal Protections (HELP) for Separated Children Act. The legislation would protect children affected by immigration enforcement actions or proceedings against their parents. According to a 2019 analysis, there are 7.2 million children of noncitizen parents in the United States.

"President Trump promised to go after the worst of the worst, but his immigration agenda is targeting hardworking immigrants instead," said Senator Cortez Masto. "Innocent kids across the United States have been caught in the crossfire as their parents become targets of his Administration's cruel immigration enforcement efforts. We must pass the HELP for Separated Children Act to require immigrant families be treated with dignity and to protect the rights of the most vulnerable among us."

"The images of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos in his bunny hat after preschool are seared into the minds of Minnesotans. Using children as pawns to detain their parents is morally repugnant," said Senator Smith. "This bill would put common-sense moral safeguards in place to protect children from ICE agents' brutal tactics. Children are our most precious gift and needlessly traumatizing them in service of this Administration's mass deportation campaign is beneath this nation's morals."

Since the Trump Administration began its mass-deportation operations, families and children have been targeted by ICE's aggressive immigration enforcement tactics. Ins some instances, families with young children have been violently targeted by ICE officers and children have been unjustly detained alongside their parents in Texas for weeks or months. ICE agents have used kids to bait parents into cooperating with immigration enforcement. In fact, tactics used by the Trump Administration have violated ICE's own Detained Parents Directive.

The HELP for Separated Children Act would protect children affected by immigration enforcement actions or proceedings against their parents by:

• Allowing parents to make calls and arrange for the care of their children and ensures that children can regularly call and visit their parents while they are detained;
• Prohibiting Federal personnel from using excessive force in the arrest or apprehension of individuals while children are present, including but not limited to drawing weapons or throwing individuals to the ground, and from deceiving a child for the purposes of immigration enforcement of their parents or family members;
• Allowing parents to participate in family court proceedings affecting their children;
• Protecting children from being compelled to serve as translators for their parents in immigration enforcement actions;
• Ensuring that parents can coordinate their departures with their children;
• Requiring ICE to consider the best interests of children in detention, release, and transfer decisions affecting their parents; and
• Establishing a National Coordinator who serves as the primary point-of-contact and subject-matter expert for ICE personnel regarding child welfare and guardianship.

The first and only Latina senator, Senator Cortez Masto has consistently supported immigrant communities in Nevada, calling on both the Biden and Trump administrations to protect DACA recipients, TPS holders and other immigrants, as well as leading commonsense legislation to fix our broken immigration system. Last year, the Senator introduced the Protect Vulnerable Immigrant Youth Actto fix the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status program. She introduced the Upholding Protections for Unaccompanied Children Act to reverse provisions in the Republican tax law (H.R. 1) that harm unaccompanied children who are seeking safety from trafficking, abuse, and exploitation in their home countries. Cortez Masto has also demanded the Trump Administration take immediate action to ensure Department of Homeland Security stops conducting aggressive, extreme, and dangerous civil enforcement activities within 1,000 feet of school properties.

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