SEEKING SAFETY: UNDERSTANDING THE CHALLENGES FACED BY UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN MIGRATING TO THE U.S.: PART 2

By Yaslin Perez

Introduction

While one 12-year-old wakes up in the morning to eat a bowl of Lucky Charms, another 12-year-old works late into the night packaging that same cereal.[1] Two teenagers struggle to stay awake in school—one because they stayed up playing video games, the other because their shift at a car manufacturer ended at 6:30 a.m.[2] These four children live vastly different lives. Children are among the most vulnerable people in the world. They rely on adults for the nurture and guidance necessary to become independent.[3] Because they are still developing, they are particularly susceptible to poor living conditions, such as poverty, inadequate health care, malnutrition, unsafe water, housing instability, and environmental pollution.[4]

As discussed in Part 1 of this article, unaccompanied children (UAC) migrate to the U.S. to escape the poverty and crime in their home countries.[5]However, upon arrival, they encounter a new set of challenges. Only a third of migrant children are released to their parents; the majority are sent to relatives, acquaintances or even strangers.[6]This Article examines the difficulties these children face after being released from U.S. custody, including financial hardship and labor exploitation, educational barriers, and immigration status issues.

    A.        Financial Hardship and Labor Exploitation

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a United States labor law that establishes how many hours children can work and what environment they can work in.[7] However, despite these longstanding protections, child labor violations persist across industries nationwide.

Migrant children are increasingly taking on some of the most grueling jobs in the country, spanning multiple industries in nearly every state.[8] Investigative reports have uncovered that as many as 200,000 immigrant children are working illegally across the U.S.[9] School teachers report that it is common for many of their students to rush off to demanding shifts immediately after school.[10] Exhausted from working through the night, these children struggle to focus in class, and their education takes second place in their priorities.

Migrant children who are desperate to earn a living often find themselves in dangerous jobs that provide little oversight, afford few protections against hazardous machinery, and entail physically demanding tasks that put their health and safety at risk. A 15-year-old spends her nights packing Cheerios in fast moving machines that have previously torn off fingers of adult workers.[11]A 14-year-old boy works a construction job instead of going to school.[12]Girls as young as 13 are washing hotel sheets.[13] Factories have children tending to giant ovens to make granola bars and others are running milking machines.[14]

Because they are young and often seen as naïve, these children are particularly vulnerable to wage theft, irregular hours, unstable pay, and workplace discrimination.[15] Their desperation makes them easy targets for exploitation, perpetuating a cycle of labor abuse that is difficult to escape. The Secretary of Health and Human Services stated, “If Henry Ford had seen this in his plants, he would have never become famous and rich.” [16]  

Many migrant children are also driven by a deep sense of responsibility toward their families back home. In interviews, they express empathy for their parents’ sacrifices and believed their labor would ease financial burdens at home.[17] As one boy explained, “[i]t’s not that we want to be working these jobs. It’s that we have to help our families.”[18] Beyond supporting their families, many of these children arrive in the U.S. with substantial migration debts ranging from $3,000 to $11,000—debts that accumulate interest over time.[19] While migrant children face labor exploitation and financial hardship, their struggles continue in the realm of education.

    B.        Educational Challenges

In Plyler v. Doe, the United States Supreme Court held that undocumented children have the same right to attend public schools as U.S. citizens.[20] Additionally, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits schools from discriminating based on race, color, or national origin.[21] Once unaccompanied children (UACs) are released to their sponsors, they are required to attend school up to the age mandated by state law.[22]

Unaccompanied children face numerous obstacles when trying to enroll in school. Some schools require new students to provide a Social Security number or U.S. birth certificate as a prerequisite for enrollment, creating immediate hurdles for undocumented students.[23] Even when children present valid documents issued upon their release—such as the Verification of Release form or immunization records from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)—schools may still reject them.[24]

Once enrolled, unaccompanied children frequently encounter another major barrier—a shortage of English as a Second Language (ESL) programs and bilingual staff.[25] The ORR states that school districts must provide language assistance to help non-English-speaking students become proficient and participate equally in standard instruction.[26]However, many districts struggle with inadequate funding and a shortage of bilingual educators due to the increasing number of immigrant students.[27]

Additionally, many teen students prioritize working over school, often taking on grueling jobs to help support their families, as discussed in the labor challenges section of this Article.[28] Teachers at one high school estimated that 200 of their immigrant students were working full time while trying to keep up with their classes.[29] Yet, the challenges for migrant children doesn’t stop at school, their immigration status adds another challenge.

    C.        Immigration Status  

Unaccompanied children have several potential pathways to legal status in the United States, including Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) for those who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by one or both of their parents.[30] There is also asylum for those fearing persecution based on religion, nationality, or other factors.[31] T-Visas are also available for minors who are victims of human trafficking and cooperate with law enforcement, and U-Visas for those who are victims of qualifying crimes like domestic violence or sexual assault.[32]

Unaccompanied children may secure legal representation at their own expense or through pro bono services, but they are not automatically entitled to an attorney.[33] This is because the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of legal counsel for defendants in criminal cases does not extend to immigration proceedings, which are classified as civil matters.[34]

In my personal experience working with SIJS cases, I learned that the process of obtaining a green card through this relief can take over six years due to visa backlogs, lengthy state court proceedings, and delays at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Additionally, the financial burden is significant—the average cost of an SIJS case can exceed $6,000, not including USCIS filing fees. For many children and their sponsors, these costs alone can be a deterrent, especially if minors are expected to cover the expenses themselves.

Conclusion

Crossing the border is not the end of the struggle for unaccompanied children—it is only the beginning. Many believe that once they arrive in the United States, they step into a life of opportunity and security, but the reality is far from it. Instead of a life of stability, they face grueling labor, educational barriers, and the constant fear of deportation.

[1] Hannah Dreier, Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S., N.Y. Times (Feb. 25, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/us/unaccompanied-migrant-child-workers-exploitation.html.

[2] Id.

[3] U.N. Int’l Child. Emergency Fund, Child Rights and Why They Matter, UNICEF, https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/child-rights-why-they-matter.

[4] Id.

[5] See Yaslin Perez, Seeking Safety: Understanding the Challenges Faced by Unaccompanied Children Migrating to the U.S.: Part 1, Ctr. for Child., L., & Ethics (Oct. 24, 2024), https://www.cumberlandccleonline.com/post/seeking-safety-understanding-the-challenges-faced-by-unaccompanied-children-migrating-to-the-u-s.

[6] Dreier, supra note 1.

[7] Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201–19.

[8] Dreier, supra note 1.

[9] Id.; Shefali Milczarek-Desai, (Hidden) in Plain Sight: Migrant Child Labor and The New Economy of Exploitation, 77 Ark. L. Rev. (2024).

[10] Id.

[11] Id.

[12] Id.

[13] Id.

[14] Id.

[15] See Milczarek-Desai, supra note 15, at 398-99.

[16] Dreier, supra note 1.

[17] See Milczarek-Desai, supra note 15, at 396.

[18] Id. at 397.

[19] Id.

[20] 457 U.S. 202 (1982).

[21] U.S. Dep't of Justice, Civil Rights Div. & U.S. Dep't of Educ., Office for Civil Rights, Protecting Access to Education for Unaccompanied Children (2023), https://www.ed.gov/media/document/ocr-factsheet-unaccompanied-children-202306.pdf.

[22] U.S. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., Information on the Rights of Unaccompanied Children to Enroll in School and Participate Meaningfully and Equally in Education Programs, https://www.ed.gov/sites/ed/files/about/overview/focus/rights-unaccompanied-children-enroll-school.pdf (last visited Feb. 4, 2025).

[23] U.S. Dep't of Justice, supra note 21.

[24] Id.

[25] Id.

[26] U.S. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., supra note 22.

[27] Sophia Rodriguez, “The System Makes It Hard for Them”: Exploring the Challenges and Strategies for Schools in Supporting Newcomer Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth, William T. Grant Found. (Nov. 30, 2021), https://wtgrantfoundation.org/the-system-makes-it-hard-for-them-exploring-the-challenges-and-strategies-for-schools-in-supporting-newcomer-unaccompanied-immigrant-youth.

[28] See supra Part A.

[29] Dreier, supra note 1.

[30] INA § 101(a)(27).

[31] INA § 208.

[32] INA § 101(a)(15)(T); INA § 101(a)(15)(U).

[33] William A. Kandel, Cong. Rsch. Serv., R43599, Unaccompanied Alien Children: An Overview 39 (Sept. 5, 2024), https://sgp.fas.org/crs/homesec/R43599.pdf.

[34] Id.