December 2021 – NCJFCJ Two Part Webinar Series: Immigrant Children Who Are Survivors of Trafficking

The National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project in partnership with The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) is pleased to announce the two-part webinar series, Immigrant Children Who are Survivors of Sex Trafficking. This webinar series provides participants with an overview of the legal rights and protections of immigrant children who are victims of commercial sex trafficking and/or labor trafficking. The first session provides participants with resources and tools to assist judges in providing assistance to immigrant children who are victims of human trafficking to be able to qualify for immigration relief. The second session will guide judges on how to direct parties and child welfare to take the steps needed to ensure that child sex trafficking victims receive all of the forms of help and assistance including state and federal public benefits that they are legally eligible to receive.

Session One:
Legal Protections for Immigrant Children Who Are Victims of Human Trafficking
Faculty: Judge Susan Breall and Leslye Orloff
Date: December 2, 2021
Time: 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm ET

This 90-minute webinar will provide an overview of the protections available under federal immigration laws, federal and state public benefits law, and state family laws for immigrant children who are victims of commercial sex trafficking. this session will highlight the important roles judges play in providing U and T visa certifications and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status findings needed for immigrant sex-trafficked children to file for immigration relief designed by Congress to protect them.

PowerPoint Presentation

Session Two:
Legal Rights of Immigrant Child Commercial Sex Trafficking Survivors: Public Benefits, Housing, and Victim Services
Faculty: Judge Ramona Gonzalez and Leslye Orloff
Date: December 9, 2021
Time: 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm ET

This 90-minute webinar will discuss the range of publicly funded victim and social services programs, legal assistance, and the wide range of services and assistance that are legally available to child victims of commercial sex trafficking and their non-abusive family members regardless of immigration status. This session will cover how judges can direct parties and child welfare agencies to take the steps needed to ensure that child sex trafficking victims receive all the forms of federal and state-funded benefits and assistance they are legally eligible to receive.

Training Materials

NIWAP offers a full library of SJI supported materials for courts here.  

NIWAP also offers technical assistance for judges and court staff. Find out how to receive NIWAP’s technical assistance from NIWAP’s experts and judicial faculty here. If you are a judge or judicial faculty, please consider joining our National Judicial Network. You can find more information about the National Judicial Network here.

Definition of Child Under U.S. Immigration Laws: Under U.S. immigration laws a person under the age of 21 is defined as a child.  Human trafficking affects many immigrant children and youth.  Some trafficked children could also have been victims of other criminal activities in addition to human trafficking which there is immigration relief available for victims.  Often immigrant trafficking victims are first identified as victims of child abuse, spouse abuse, sexual assault, stalking or a wide range of other crimes covered by the U visa. Older teens if married to their traffickers or other intimate partner abusers may qualify for immigration relief based on domestic violence and younger children may be eligible for child abuse related immigration remedies. Which form of immigration relief is best for an individual trafficked child to pursue will depend on a variety of factors including the speed with which the type of immigration case is adjudicated and how early in the case process child victims are eligible for public benefits and drivers’ licenses which varies by state?  For this reason once an immigrant child victim is identified they should be referred to a program with expertise on immigration remedies for victims of human trafficking and other crimes.  To locate programs with this expertise in your state use the NIWAP directory.  This list of webinars and materials covers all forms of immigration relief and access to publicly funded benefits and services that can be helpful to a child trafficking victim including but not limited to trafficking related benefits and services and is not limited to remedies available to children as defined by state laws. 

Materials by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services: Office of Policy and Strategy (OP&S) to the National Judicial Network Judges

OP&S appreciates your request for informative materials to share with the National Judicial Network. Judges and court staff may be the first to see signs of violence and are in a unique position to provide information and assistance to noncitizens who have been victims of violence, human trafficking, or certain crimes.  Below we have included a list of helpful materials and the links to each resource.  The Policy Manual is the agency’s centralized online repository for USCIS’ immigration policies.  Judges may sign up to receive timely policy updates on the USCIS Alerts page or contact Public Engagement to participate in engagement and outreach activities.

Informative Pamphlets Appropriate for Public Distribution:

Informative Materials for Judges and Law Enforcement:

USCIS Case Data

Relevant USCIS Public Webpages or Policy Manual Chapters

NIWAP Materials

Webinars for Judges or Helpful to Judges

     Immigrant Survivors

Victims of Trauma

Immigration Law Overview for State Court Judges

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status

U and T Visa Certification by Judges

Trafficking

Access to Public Benefits

VAWA Confidentiality, Discovery and Courthouse Enforcement

Child Welfare Cases Involving Immigrant Families and Children

Forms of Immigration Relief

Immigration Relief for Crime Victims and Children

Language Access

Know Your Rights Information

DHS Immigration Policies

Published December 2, 2021