UNICEF USA Statement on Executive Order and the Ongoing Protection of Children at our Southern Border

NEW YORK (June 22, 2018) – While UNICEF USA welcomes the Executive Order issued this week, rescinding the practice of separating children from their families, we continue to encourage our nation’s leadership to address the more than 2,000 children already separated from their parents while finding alternatives to family detention.   

We know that detention of children, even with their parents, is a threat to children’s wellbeing - it puts them at risk of exploitation and abuse, denies them access to meaningful health care, and harms their ability to learn and to play.

It is imperative that families stay together, and the needs of children are kept top of mind. It is equally imperative that root causes are addressed—the important factors that cause families to uproot their lives and undertake such dangerous journeys. The best solution we can take is to ensure that children are safe wherever they live.

We encourage all leaders and all Americans to remember that these children are children, first and foremost.

# # #

About UNICEF

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) works in more than 190 countries and territories to put children first. UNICEF has helped save more children’s lives than any other humanitarian organization, by providing health care and immunizations, safe water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more. UNICEF USA supports UNICEF's work through fundraising, advocacy and education in the United States. Together, we are working toward the day when no children die from preventable causes and every child has a safe and healthy childhood. For more information, visit www.unicefusa.org

For more information, contact:

Lauren Davitt, UNICEF USA, 212.922.2503, ldavitt@unicefusa.org