Upholding Protections for Unaccompanied Children Act of 2025
- Sponsor
- Rep. Goldman, Daniel S. [D-NY-10]
- Committees
- Homeland Security Committee (primary)
- Last action
- Dec 4, 2025
Bottom line
The bill aims to restore and strengthen protections for unaccompanied alien children by removing financial barriers to legal relief, ensuring due process, and safeguarding against potentially harmful practices introduced by a previous law.
What it actually does
This bill amends Public Law 119-21, commonly known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," to repeal or create exceptions for various fees and provisions that apply to unaccompanied alien children. It exempts unaccompanied children from fees for asylum, employment authorization, special immigrant juvenile status, immigration court proceedings, and border apprehension. Additionally, it repeals authority for summary removal of unaccompanied children, eliminates provisions for unsafeguarded physical examinations, and restricts the sharing of sponsor information for immigration enforcement purposes.
Proponents argue
Proponents argue that the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" undermined long-standing bipartisan protections for vulnerable unaccompanied children, increasing their risk of trafficking, exploitation, and abuse. They contend that this bill is necessary to uphold the intent of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA) by ensuring child-sensitive procedures, access to legal processes, and protection from retraumatization and family separation.
Opponents contend
Opponents of this bill, and proponents of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," would likely argue that the fees and provisions being repealed or amended were intended to deter illegal immigration, manage border flows, and ensure accountability within the immigration system. They might contend that exempting unaccompanied children from these measures creates loopholes, encourages more children to make dangerous journeys, and places an undue burden on taxpayers by increasing the cost of processing and caring for these individuals without sufficient revenue generation.
The bill is concise and clearly states its purpose and provisions, making it accessible for a reader to understand its core changes within a reasonable timeframe.
Section 3(a) through 3(h)
Exemption of Unaccompanied Children from Various Immigration Fees
This section amends the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" to ensure that unaccompanied alien children are not required to pay a range of immigration-related fees. These include fees for asylum applications, employment authorization documents (initial and renewal), special immigrant juvenile status, annual asylum fees, immigration court proceedings, in absentia removal, and border apprehension. The bill specifically repeals the Special Immigrant Juvenile Fee entirely and adds exceptions for unaccompanied children to other fee requirements.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that imposing fees on highly vulnerable unaccompanied children creates insurmountable barriers to seeking humanitarian protection, contrary to U.S. and international law. They contend that these fees force children into debt, making them more susceptible to exploitation and trafficking, and that removing them aligns with the TVPRA's mandate for child-sensitive procedures.
Critics contend
Opponents might argue that these fees are a necessary mechanism to manage the costs of processing immigration applications and to deter frivolous claims. They may contend that waiving fees for unaccompanied children could incentivize more individuals to claim this status, straining resources and potentially encouraging illegal border crossings.
Tradeoffs
The bill balances the humanitarian concern for vulnerable children against the administrative costs of processing their claims and the desire to manage immigration flows through financial disincentives.
Section 4
Repeal of Summary Removal Authority for Unaccompanied Children
This provision repeals Section 100051(8) of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which had provided funding and authority for the summary removal of unaccompanied children, particularly those from countries other than Mexico and Canada, without affording them due process or proper screenings for trafficking and protection concerns. The repeal aims to ensure that all unaccompanied children receive the protections outlined in the TVPRA, including placement in Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) custody and access to legal processes before an immigration judge.
Section 5(a) and 5(b)
Prohibition of Unsafeguarded Body Examinations of Unaccompanied Children
This section repeals provisions in the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" that allowed for potentially physically intrusive examinations of unaccompanied children by both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The bill's findings state that these examinations lacked guardrails, posed risks of retraumatizing children, and could be inappropriately applied, especially for children fleeing abuse or exploitation.
Section 6
Prohibition on Sharing Sponsor Information for Immigration Enforcement
This section amends the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" to explicitly prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) from sharing information obtained about sponsors of unaccompanied children with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or any other federal agency for the purpose of immigration enforcement. This aims to reverse a policy that led to the targeting of sponsors for enforcement actions, which proponents argue deterred family members from coming forward and prolonged children's detention.
Section 7
Mandate for Refund of Previously Paid Fees
This section requires the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General to refund, within 180 days of the Act's enactment, any fees paid by individuals under the provisions of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" that are repealed or amended by this new Act. This ensures that individuals, particularly unaccompanied children, who previously paid these fees will be reimbursed.