A Better “Best Interests”: Immigration Policy in a Comparative Context

Abstract

This conceptual article examines the role and limitations of the best interests standard in international and domestic policy, with a particular focus on how the standard is implicated in the treatment of unaccompanied minors in the United States. Motivated by emergent interdisciplinary scholarship on global youth and informed by a comparative consideration of best interests across other professions, we propose a new model of best interests. This model calls for a multidimensional recognition of youths' family-, community-and decision-making contexts; acknowledgment of youths' rights; and a commitment to speaking with, rather than for, young people. What results is a novel and dynamic understanding of best interests with relevance to scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.

Enabling or Subverting Legal Violence? Expert Witnesses in Immigration Proceedings

“…Immigration law does not provide any compulsory child‐specific accommodations customary in family and juvenile courts. There is no best interest legal standard that takes into account the safety and well‐being of the child (Statz and Heidbrink 2019). The rules of evidence remain the same for children and adults, forcing children to meet the same credibility and evidentiary requirements as adults.…”