YouthCare’s Casa de los Amigos Program (Casa) is a twenty-bed shelter for unaccompanied, undocumented youth ages 12-17. Casa is supported by the Division of Unaccompanied Minors at the Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The majority of Casa’s youth are fleeing war, gang violence, human trafficking, and extreme poverty. They arrive at Casa de los Amigos alone, with next to nothing.
Recently, however, some young people have arrived at Casa because they have been separated from their parents. These young people are “unaccompanied” only because they have forcibly removed from their families at the border. YouthCare condemns the policy of family separation and demands these children be reunited with their families.