Defending against the Increasing Criminalization of
Our Immigrant Communities

Who We Are

The Problem

"Bustin' Out"

Immigrant Youth Justice Initiative (IYJI)

"Sentenced Home"

Additional Resources

IMMIGRANT YOUTH JUSTICE INITIATIVE (IYJI)
Addressing the Rights and Immigration Related Needs of Noncitizen Youth in the Juvenile Justice System and Ensuring Their Fair Treatment

In the last few years the juvenile justice system has been increasingly used as another avenue to enforce immigration laws in the U.S.  Many jurisdictions throughout the country have responded to the federal government’s intensified efforts to gain access to information about undocumented youth in the custody of the juvenile justice system and a growing number of these jurisdictions routinely report youth whom they suspect are undocumented to immigration authorities. Enforcement of civil immigration laws in the juvenile justice context, however, is at least a diversion, if not a perversion, of the core goals of the juvenile justice system to support youth rehabilitation, promote family unification, and protect confidentiality.   
In response to these emerging immigration enforcement trends in the juvenile justice system and to develop an integrated approach to ensure fair treatment of immigrant youth in the juvenile justice system, in 2007 we launched the Immigrant Youth Justice Initiative (IYJI) with Legal Services for Children.  IYJI is the only national collaborative focused on the intersection between the immigration and juvenile justice systems.   As part of our initiative, we conduct the following:

• Cross-Systems Education, Technical Assistance, and Training for people working within the delinquency system and the immigration advocacy communities, as well as affected youth, their families and the community-based organizations who work with them;

• Develop Materials and Resources to enhance the understanding of juvenile justice jurisdictions and advocates of the crossover of immigration and juvenile justice issues and the rights and benefits available to immigrant youth in order to address their immigration-related needs;

• Systems Integration Protocols to facilitate collaboration between juvenile justice system players (e.g. public defenders) and immigrant advocates to provide immigration advocacy and legal representation on behalf of immigrant youth;

• Enforcement Response Strategies to counter the devastating impact of increased government enforcement targeted at immigrant youth in the juvenile justice system; and

• Integration into and Collaboration with Existing Juvenile Justice Networks, and Children’s Immigration Advocacy Networks.  IYJI collaborates with the nation’s key juvenile justice system and immigrant children’s networks including the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the National Juvenile Defender Center, the Community Justice Network for Youth, the Vera Institute for Justice, Kids in Need of Defense, and Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services.   These organizations are already deeply involved in a myriad of juvenile justice system and children’s immigration reform efforts and together compromise a significant segment of the juvenile justice and children’s immigration systems across the country.  IYJI continues to build relationships with these players and target ways in which to integrate the immigration needs of noncitizen youth into their existing and newly developing strategies.

Resources

• Materials for Juvenile Defenders Representing Non-Citizen Minors in Delinquency Proceedings at www.defendingimmigrants.org
• Information including facts sheets on immigration relief for non-citizen minors go to www.ilrc.org
• Know Your Rights and Responsibilities Handbook for Non-citizen Youth (English, Spanish, and Korean)
• Resources on the intersection between the immigration and juvenile justice system including a manual on the best practices and policies for jurisdictions working with noncitizen minors in the juvenile justice system will be posted in the summer of 2009.