John Dorrett
Policy and Advocacy Work for Unaccompanied Children
This summer I had the opportunity to work as a policy and advocacy research assistant at the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. USCRI is a national policy and advocacy organization that provides low-cost legal services to refugees and immigrants, runs a shelter for unaccompanied migrant children, combats human trafficking, and works to resettle refugees from around the world into U.S. communities. My role was to produce research and advocacy reports surrounding the ongoing unaccompanied children crisis and the southern border. I quickly adapted my role as the nature of the crisis and surrounding political conflict changed throughout the summer. I was able to collaborate with other refugee advocacy organizations and ultimately helped develop an advocacy and communication strategy to best campaign on behalf of unaccompanied migrant children to ensure their best possible quality of care as they move through the government-run intake process.