The Unaccompanied Minors Intiative was created by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Immigration Committee Chair Carlos Menchaca in 2014 with the Robin Hood Foundation and the New York Community Trust to prevent the detention and deportation of children who arrived in the United States to flee violence from Central America.
In its first year of operation, the program has won 60 asylum cases and helped 47 children obtain lawful permanent residency.
The Unaccompanied Minors Initiative was the first public-private partnership in the nation to ensure that undocumented young people who make their way to New York City receive legal assistance and are not abandoned. The Speaker and Council took the lead in responding to the national crisis of unaccompanied minors migrating to the United States to flee violence in Central America.
Read the press release.