You can put a baby in a bassinet before an immigration judge, and she would have to make her claim just like a 45‐year‐old man would. -Immigration attorney, Chicago
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.
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“A Better ‘Best Interests’: Immigration Policy in a Comparative Context”
Statz, Michele and Lauren Heidbrink
2019 Law & Policy Review 41 (4): 365-386.