Legislative Advocacy

KIND works to ensure that legislation in Congress addresses the needs of unaccompanied children and improves their protection.

KIND closely follows all legislation; in particular, KIND has been working to help pass the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2011, introduced by Senators Leahy, Kerry, and Brown to ensure the further protection of unaccompanied children in the United States. The bill builds upon provisions of the TVPRA 2008, introduced by Sen. Leahy, which became law in December 2008, and significantly enhanced the protection of unaccompanied children in the United States.

KIND is also supporting other legislation, including:

• a bill introduced by Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard to enhance the protection of unaccompanied children and women who are in immigration detention (HR.2235)
• a bill introduced by Senator Al Franken and similar bill introduced by Representative Lynn Woolsey, to protect children affected by immigration enforcement actions, the “Human Enforcement and Legal Protections (HELP) for Separated Families Act”, S. 1399 and H.R. 2607