Thousands of refugee and immigrant children come to the United States alone or with their families each year, many having fled life-threatening dangers in their countries of origin. The Policy and Advocacy Division brings policy expertise to advocacy at the federal level, and translates what we see on the ground as a direct provider of services to unaccompanied child migrants through our shelter, implements what .

In particular, USCRI engages in developing improved policy and advocating for vulnerable children in migration in the following areas: expanding legal protection for unaccompanied children, improving child welfare during and after government custody, extending post-release services and enlarging the number of child advocates, expanding of the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) program, enhancing screening for trafficking at U.S. borders, and increasing targeted programming for child migrants in Central America, among others.