Jayapal Introduces Orlin’s Law Calling for the Protection of Children of Immigrants

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, is introducing Orlin's Law, legislation named for Orlin Hernandez Reyes. Three-year-old Orlin was murdered after his mother was deported and he was sent to live with a violent uncle, despite his mother's request to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that her son be deported with her. As Jayapal introduces the legislation, she is also demanding answers from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin and ICE Acting Director David Venturella as children continue to be separated from their parents.

"Orlin was violently assaulted and killed after ICE took him from his mother - an immigrant with no criminal record who was picked up on her way to work. There are no words to express the outrage and heartbreak that we should all feel for this three-year-old boy," said Jayapal. "There will never be justice for his family, because we cannot bring Orlin back. We can, though, in his memory demand that this never happen again, and ensure that the children of immigrants and immigrant families are protected and kept together."

"I begged them not to take me without my son," Wendy Hernandez Reyes, mother of Orlin Hernandez Reyes. "I told the officers Orlin was just a baby, that I would go wherever they sent me, as long as he came too. They didn't listen. Just weeks later, Orlin was gone. No child should die alone because no one stopped to ask what would happen to them after their mother was taken away. I'm supporting Orlin's Law because I don't want another parent to endure the pain I have suffered. Nothing will bring Orlin back, but I hope his story can help save another child's life."

"Wendy did the one thing a mother in that moment could do: she begged ICE officers to keep her with her son," Shalyn Fluharty, Lee & Godshall-Bennett, LLP, attorney for Wendy Hernandez Reyes. "Instead, she was deported alone, and Orlin was left with someone who would later kill him. This was not an unavoidable tragedy. It was the foreseeable consequence of separating a young child from his mother. Orlin's Law will help ensure that families are not needlessly separated, that parents have the opportunity to make decisions about their children's care if detained, and that no parent is deported without their child if they want to remain together. We owe that to Orlin, and to every child whose safety depends on the decisions our government makes."

At the time of Orlin's death, Acting ICE director Todd M. Lyons alleged that Orlin's mother, Wendy Hernandez Reyes, had abandoned him and "chose to leave her son here with a violent murderer." Lyon's assertion is contradicted by court records and Ms. Hernandez Reyes's account.

Orlin's Law would promote family unity and preserve parental rights by establishing a rule that prevents ICE from detaining parents and primary caregivers unless it can show, through clear and convincing evidence, that an individual poses a specific risk to public safety that cannot be mitigated through placement in a supervised release program. For any parent not released, the bill establishes an Office of Detained Parent Coordination to ensure that detained parents' rights are respected and requires ICE to give parents every opportunity to make custody decisions for their child and to facilitate their participation in proceedings involving their child. It would also prevent ICE from deporting parents without their child, should they wish to take their child with them.

"We commend Representative Jayapal for introducing Orlin's Law to ensure that families are not needlessly separated due to immigration enforcement and that parents are able to make decisions about what happens to their children," said Wendy Cervantes, director of immigration and immigrant families of the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) and director of the Children Thrive Action Network. "The bottom line is that Orlin should never have been separated from his loving mother, and no child should live in fear of losing a parent. Children have suffered some of the direst consequences of the Trump Administration's reckless mass deportation campaign, including CLASP's research that documents how our youngest kids are having their childhoods taken away, with the terror spreading across entire communities. We call on Congress to pass Orlin's Law to mitigate the harm of immigration raids on children and to hold the Administration accountable by demanding that the Department of Homeland Security release comprehensive data on the number of children impacted by immigration enforcement and to follow its own policy to ensure detained parents can make decisions about their children's care."

"Family separation did not end when the Trump administration's border policy was struck down, it simply changed form. Under today's mass deportation agenda, ICE is tearing young children from their parents, leaving them alone with no one to advocate on their behalf," said Sarah Mehta, Deputy Director, Policy and Government Affairs for Immigration, American Civil Liberties Union. "Orlin's Law would ensure that children can remain safely with their parents and loved ones, and that parents, not immigration agents, decide what is best for their children. We are grateful to Congresswoman Jayapal for leading this effort to keep children safe and families together."

Jayapal worked closely with DHS officials to ensure Ms. Hernandez Reyes could return to the U.S. for Orlin's funeral.

The full text of Orlin's Law can be read here, and the full text of the letter to Mullin and Venturella can be read here.

Jayapal is joined in introducing Orlin's Law by Representatives Nanette Barragán (CA-44), André Carson (IN-07), Greg Casar (TX-35), Judy Chu (CA-28), J. Luis Correa (CA-46), Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Maxine Dexter (OR-03), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), Jesús "Chuy" García (IL-04), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr. (GA-04), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Summer Lee (PA-12), Ted W. Lieu (CA-36), James P. McGovern (MA-02), Analilia Mejia (NJ-11), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Lateefah Simon (CA-12), Adam Smith (WA-09), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Paul D. Tonko (NY-20), Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-07), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25).

The legislation is endorsed by the ACLU; Acacia Center for Justice; All Our Kin; Amnesty International USA; AP-OD (Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors); Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC; Center for Gender & Refugee Studies; Center for Law and Social Policy; Children's Rights; Community Change Action; First Focus Campaign For Children; Justice in Motion; Kids in Need of Defense; MoveOn; National Center for Youth Law; National Immigrant Justice Center; National Immigration Law Center; Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice; We are CASA ; Women's Refugee Commission; Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights; ZERO TO THREE; The Children's Partnership; Coalition for a Healthier Frederick County; Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; Northwest Immigrant Rights Project; OneAmerica; Voices for Utah Children; Wisconsin Head Start Association.

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Issues: Immigration