Children as Bait: Impacts of the ORR-DHS Information-Sharing Agreement

In May 2018, an agreement went into effect, requiring the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to report broad information about children to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agencies within DHS. According to this survey by The Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), changes to the reunification or sponsorship vetting process are resulting in fewer potential sponsors”including parents, legal guardians, and close relatives such as siblings”are coming forward or completing the sponsorship vetting process out of fear that their information will be sent to CBP or ICE for immigration enforcement purposes.