Challenges the limited conceptions of children’s rights inherent in the framework of immigration law and suggests an agenda for reforms that embrace a child-centered approach to immigration decisions. Competing conceptions of children’s rights include the notion of children as property, as wards, as adults yet with limited capacity to exercise their rights, and as persons deserving of dignity and respect. Immigration law reinforces underlying conceptions of children, with such consequences as marginalizing children’s voices, and raises special barriers to unaccompanied minors. Special immigrant juvenile status is the only provision of immigration law that calls for consideration of the best interests of the child in the conflicts that arise between juvenile courts and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Among suggestions for reform are removing decisions about children’s welfare from the INS and locating them with independent decision makers with appropriate expertise, eliminating from immigration law elements that reinforce discredited conceptions of children, and ensuring that children’s perspectives inform broader discussions of immigration law and policy.
