Date: Thu, 07  Mar  2002 14:21:15 -0500
From: <belmonte@MIT.EDU>
To: <belmonte@mit.edu>
Subject: Support the Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act!

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Message sent to the following recipients:
Rep. Capuano
Message text follows:

Matthew Belmonte
[address]


March 7, 2002

[recipient address was inserted here]


 [recipient name was inserted here],

As your constituent, I urge you to support and cosponsor the 
`Unaccompanied Alien Child Protection Act' S. 121/H.R. 1904.


This important legislation would create a separate office devoted to child 
services within the Department of Justice, require the appointment of 
legal counsel and guardians for each child and ensure that unaccompanied 
children are housed in an appropriate shelter or with foster families if 
their own families are unable to care for them.

Non-citizen children must be provided legal assistance. Under current law, 
these children are forced to struggle through a system designed primarily 
for adults even though they may lack the capacity to understand nuanced 
legal principles and procedures.  S 121 / HR 1904 would take the necessary 
step of providing these children with the same access to counsel as US 
citizen children. Without such assistance, these children could be 
returned to their home country and again subjected to the very abuses they 
sought to escape.  

Innocent children must not be treated like criminals. The INS relies on 
juvenile correctional facilities to house many children even in the 
absence of any criminal wrongdoing. Today, one out of every three children 
in INS custody is detained in secure, jail-like facilities. These 
facilities are highly inappropriate, particularly for children who have 
already experienced painful trauma in their homelands. The Unaccompanied 
Alien Child Protection Act would ensure that the INS treats every child 
fairly and humanely.

Again, I urge you to support and cosponsor the Unaccompanied Alien Child 
Protection Act, S 121 / HR 1904.  

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this important matter.

Sincerely,


Matthew Belmonte