USCCB responds to proposed regulations on sponsors for unaccompanied immigrant minors

August 28, 2026

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CWN Editor's Note: The general counsel of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops warned that the Trump administration’s proposed regulations on sponsors for unaccompanied immigrant minors could harm the good of reunifying families, particularly the reunification of minors with parents who are not present in the United States legally.

“We fear, without guaranteeing adequate flexibility, that the Agency’s newly proposed sponsor requirements for proof of identity and proof of income could exclude otherwise eligible parents and relatives from sponsoring children, creating excessive barriers to reunification and unnecessarily prolonging children’s stays in government custody,” William J. Quinn wrote in an August 21 letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Quinn added:

Under federal law, prospective sponsors may be noncitizens, including those without lawful immigration status—and this is as it should be, since “unaccompanied alien children,” by definition, are themselves noncitizens who lack lawful immigration status.

Nevertheless, one’s immigration status can limit access to certain forms of identification, including many of the forms of identification enumerated in the proposed changes ... For instance, a driver’s license is one of the most common forms of identification, but only select states allow persons without lawful status to be issued licenses.

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