(Un)caged voices: stories from immigrant child detainees in the US

In June 2019, immigrant child rights advocates visited multiple Customs and Border Protection processing facilities in the US state of Texas to interview immigrant child detainees. The stories told by the—predominately Central American—minors in McAllen and Clint, Texas led the team of advocates to release their findings to the public and file the children’s declarations in a temporary restraining order against the government agencies in charge (as part of ongoing litigation known as the Flores Settlement Agreement). The children’s declarations (sworn statements) revealed the ways in which they acted in and advocated for their own best interests and the best interests of other child detainees during their incarceration. This study is an amplification of their voices—the voices of infants, young children, adolescents, and teenagers caged, neglected, and abused for crossing the US border. A CRBA (child rights-based approach) guided by children’s voice and participation and informed by grounded theory, constitute the theoretical framework of this child-centered, advocacy-geared research paper.