Provides an overview of the published research on unaccompanied immigrant children in the United States in order to support a pilot program, the Unaccompanied Children Pro Bono Project (UACPBP), designed to provide timely legal assistance to children through the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). A brief overview of the migration of unaccompanied children and the standards of international law and the Best Interests Principle provides historical background. Policies on the detention, release, and repatriation of children outline the current legal procedures to process these children. Application procedures for asylum, special immigrant juvenile status, and trafficking victims are outlined. Legal representation can be improved by tracking the data collection for the migration of unaccompanied children, developing child-focused policies on the need for advocates, regulating the confidentiality, repatriation, and reunification policies, and increasing the number of attorneys available to assist. Treatment of these children needs to improve by reducing the conditions and length of detention, transferring responsibility for the children to the ORR, and creating awareness courses to identify and reduce child trafficking victims.
