Immigrant Children & Families

Texas Appleseed applies expertise gleaned from other programmatic areas to help immigrant children and families. Our work has included systemic ways to help child refugees who come to the U.S. for safety — children who deserve humane treatment and the protection of domestic and international law. Tens of thousands of these children took dangerous journeys to escape extreme violence in their home countries. We also apply our expertise around Fair Financial Services to issues surrounding international remittances. For more on that, click here.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • The Plan is to Have a PLAN Manuals: Developed from a 100-page guide issued by National Appleseed, Texas Appleseed created a shorter manual in English and Spanish in December 2017 on how families can protect themselves in the event of deportation. The manual provides a checklist of considerations for families, from how to manage assets to child custody planning to the types of important documents someone should have readily available. See our toolbar, at right, for these publications.
  • HUD Opens Civil Rights Compliance Review of League City. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is investigating whether the city’s programs are in compliance with nondiscrimination laws. The response is one part of the relief that Texas Appleseed and MALDEF requested from HUD when our two organizations filed a federal complaint against League City in July challenging the city’s resolution that banned child refugees, and alleging other violations of civil rights laws. October 2014
  • Complaint Against League City. Some local jurisdictions passed anti-refugee resolutions in response to child refugees coming to our borders for help. In July 2014, League City was one of those cities that passed a resolution that effectively banned unauthorized immigrants, particularly child refugees, from its jurisdiction. In response, Texas Appleseed and MALDEF filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to challenge the resolution.
  • Core Principles Report. With Mexico Appleseed and national Appleseed, we published Core Principles: Child Refugees in the United States in July 2014, outlining the legal framework that should guide policies affecting child refugees. A number of legal scholars and others have now cited this publication in discussing this issue.