publications

Supporting Immigrant Youth Caught Up in the Crosshairs of the Justice system

Out of the estimated 11.1 million noncitizen immigrants living in America today, approximately one million are children under 18 years old.1 Many of these youth have come to this country fleeing violence and oppression, carry complex emotional burdens from trauma, and face basic language barriers.2 As national anti-immigrant rhetoric has escalated to the point of associating immigrants with animals and infestation3 and equating immigrant youth with gang members, these youthful immigrants have often become caught in the crosshairs of the justice system. Rather than being supported to develop into successful adults, immigrant youth are more often being targeted for arrest, detention, and deportation.