For more than two decades, the United States has relied on a single framework to respond to children who arrive at its borders without a parent or legal guardian. While that system has offered protection to many, it has also been shaped by shifting policies, uneven outcomes, and changing political priorities. At Cornell’s Migration and Human Rights Program, a collaborative initiative is creating space to pause, listen, and design a new, child-centered approach.
The Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors Project brings together fellows, faculty, and students to rethink how the country responds to some of its most vulnerable newcomers. Led by Tricia Swartz, an Immigration Law and Policy Fellow at Cornell with decades of experience spanning nonprofit leadership and senior federal roles, the project is not about quick fixes. It is about stepping back from crisis response to reimagine a non-partisan model that can endure across political cycles.
“I’ve worked on both sides of the issue,” says Swartz, referring to her years serving unaccompanied children in the nonprofit sector and later inside the federal government. “After 20 years under the same model, it felt like the right moment to stop and ask how we could do this better.”
That reimagining begins with listening. The project is developing a methodology rooted in small, private roundtable discussions with a wide range of stakeholders, including immigration advocates, lawmakers, government officials, employers, and policy experts across the political spectrum. These conversations are designed to be safe, off-the-record spaces where participants can reflect candidly on what works, what doesn’t, and where common ground may exist.
Despite some differences, early discussions suggest that consensus may be more achievable than expected. “It doesn’t seem that the two sides are too off base from each other,” notes Swartz.
The first outcome will be a white paper capturing emerging themes and ideas from these conversations. Drawing on law, child welfare, social work, medicine, and governance, it will explore how immigration and child custody systems might better align with the best interests of the child, reduce exploitation, prevent family separation, and create consistent standards across agencies and administrations. With additional funding, the white paper could later provide the building blocks for formal research, bipartisan negotiation, legislative drafting, or policy design.
The project is a collaboration between Cornell’s Migration and Human Rights Program and the global NGO Kids in Need of Defense, reflecting the Program’s role as an incubator for policy solutions. Other Immigration Law and Policy Fellows contributing their expertise include Jon Baselice, Seema Nanda, and Bitta Mostofi.
Faculty and students from the Program’s clinics ground the project in real-world impact. Beth Lyon, co-director of the Migration and Human Rights Program, contributes through the Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic, where she and her students represent former unaccompanied children now living and working in rural communities. Their perspective has helped ensure that labor considerations are part of the conversation, says Swartz.
Students play a central role. Four law students work closely with Swartz and faculty, contributing research, coordinating interviews, preparing materials, and participating in stakeholder conversations.
“It’s rare for students to be involved in a project of this scope,” says Melissa Carlier Fergusson, a student who previously worked in the federal program overseeing care for unaccompanied children. “We’re used to client-centered work but this lets us step back and think about the bigger policy questions that affect those clients every day.”
For Laura Jocelyn, another student on the team who does Congressional research, the opportunity to observe Swartz’s approach first hand has been formative. “She has an incredible ability to create a space where people feel heard,” says Jocelyn. “I’m hoping to learn from her interviewing skills and how she brings different voices into a conversation.”
At its core, the project is about building bridges. By combining seasoned practitioners, faculty, and students, the Migration and Human Rights Program is fostering thoughtful, forward-looking dialogue on an issue often defined by urgency and division. The hope is that careful listening today can lead to a more reliable model for protecting unaccompanied immigrant children in the years ahead.