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Administration for Children and Families US Department of Health and Human Services

 HHS News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, April 6, 2004
Contact: Chris Downing
ACF Press Office (202) 401-9215


HHS, DHS Sign Statement of Principles on Unaccompanied Alien Children

A "Statement of Principles" delineating responsibilities for the treatment of children in the Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) program was signed today. After Congress eliminated the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), major responsibility for the UAC program was transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Administration on Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Wade F. Horn, Ph.D., Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, HHS and Michael J. Garcia, Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), formally agreed today upon the key roles of each department as they relate to immigration benefits, immigration enforcement and the care and placement of unaccompanied alien children - minors who arrive in the United States without a parent or legal guardian and are temporarily in the custody of federal authorities because of their immigration status.

"Today's agreement will help move us toward a more organized system of assistance for children who, through no fault of their own, find themselves without their parents in our country and in need of care," said Horn.

"I am pleased to sign this agreement and look forward to continuing to improve the cooperative working relationship we have already established between HHS and DHS in a way that assures the protection of vulnerable children with no compromise of national security interests," said Garcia.

The Homeland Security Act, which eliminated the old INS, gave primary responsibility for the custody and care of unaccompanied alien children to ORR, but DHS retained authority over immigration status issues. Today's Statement of Principles addresses several major issues of agreement between the two agencies and will help assure the proper care and treatment of these children and protection of their legal rights.

Pursuant to the statement: "DHS will continue to be responsible for apprehension, processing and immigration actions. These actions include placement in immigration proceedings; removal from the United States where appropriate; decisions, after consultation with ORR, regarding consent to the jurisdiction of a state court when a child in the UAC program wishes to pursue Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status; and adjudication of petitions for SIJ status.

"ORR will have the authority to make decisions regarding such a child's medical care while the child is in custody. ORR is responsible for making placement determinations, and for providing care and placement of such children. ORR is not responsible for children places in facilities without ORR approval."

The statement, signed at DHS by the two assistant secretaries, aims to balance the missions of both of the federal agencies involved with the UAC program.

 

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

 

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