In 1997, Human Rights Watch released /Slipping Through the Cracks/, which documented the results of our investigation of children held by the INS in Arizona and California. The report detailed numerous violations of children’s rights and found that with regard to unaccompanied children, the INS has an inherent and troubling conflict of interest: children are arrested, imprisoned, and frequently removed by the same agency that is charged with caring for them and protecting their legal rights. Additionally, it found that too many children were detained in jail-like conditions for long periods of time and that the INS failed to inform children of their legal rights, interfered with their efforts to obtain legal representation, and failed to facilitate contact with their family members. Based on these findings, Human Rights Watch recommended that the U.S. Congress separate the INS’s caregiving function from its enforcement function by placing unaccompanied children in the custody of appropriate child welfare authorities. They also made a series of recommendations regarding detention policies and conditions, access to legal information and representation, and monitoring of conditions and practices. After the INS agreed to address concerns raised by human rights and other organizations, Human Rights Watch conducted several site visits in Pennsylvania to review the agency’s progress.
