{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://walkinshaw.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=833", "Walkinshaw, Bacon, Landsman, Fitzpatrick Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Rescue Ukrainian Children Abducted by Russia", "2026-09-17", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "VA", "James R. Walkinshaw", "W000831", "walkinshaw.house.gov", "walkinshaw", "https://walkinshaw.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 This week, U.S. Representatives James R. Walkinshaw (VA-11), Don Bacon (NE-02), Greg Landsman (OH-01), and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) introduced the bipartisan Justice for Ukrainian Children Act, legislation to strengthen efforts to locate and return Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, hold those responsible accountable, and reunite families.\n\nAccording to the Ukrainian government, Russia has abducted at least 20,000 Ukrainian children since the start of its full-scale invasion. Just over 2,100 have come home. Those still held have been separated from their families, subjected to political indoctrination and militarization, and stripped of their Ukrainian identity.\n\n\"Russia is running a deliberate campaign to erase these children's identity and steal Ukraine's future,\" said Congressman Walkinshaw. \"As a father, I cannot imagine the anguish of having your child taken and indoctrinated by a foreign government. The United States cannot look away. This bipartisan bill will help find these children, bring them home, and hold the perpetrators accountable.\"\n\n\u201cRussia\u2019s abduction of Ukrainian children is among the most unconscionable crimes of this war,\u201d said Congressman Fitzpatrick. \u201cThousands of children have been taken from their parents, separated from their communities, and forced to endure horrors no child should ever have to face. Our responsibility is clear: find them, bring them home, and hold accountable those responsible. This legislation ensures that responsibility remains central to our strategy\u2014and that the fate of Ukraine\u2019s children is inseparable from the pursuit of accountability and a just and durable peace.\u201d\n\n\"Tens of thousands of children from Ukraine are being brainwashed and hidden in Russia's adoption system. We have to do everything to bring these children home and reunite them with their families, where they belong,\u201d said Congressman Landsman.\n\n\u201cRussia has taken thousands of Ukrainian children from their families and tried to strip them of their identity and homeland,\u201d said Congressman Bacon. \u201cWe cannot sit by while parents, grandparents and siblings wait for their children to come home. The Justice for Ukrainian Children Act will strengthen efforts to find these children, return them to their families and hold those responsible accountable. I\u2019m pleased to join Reps. Walkinshaw, Landsman and Fitzpatrick on this bipartisan legislation.\u201d\n\nThe Justice for Ukrainian Children Act would:\n\nAuthorize $15 million a year of existing national security funding, through 2032, toward finding these children, getting them home, and helping them recover.\n\nMaintain a secure database to preserve evidence of Russia's crimes, and share it with Europol, Ukraine's Ministry of Justice, and the groups working to bring children home.\n\nRequire the President to freeze assets and revoke visas for anyone who takes part in abducting, deporting, indoctrinating, or militarizing Ukrainian children.\n\nAuthorize $10 million for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America broadcasts into Ukraine and the region, and toward technology that defeats Russian jamming.\n\nMake it United States policy to veto any Russian-led U.N. Security Council resolution that would shield Russia from accountability.\n\nRequire the State Department to report to Congress every year for five years on what it is doing to bring these children home, including in any talks to end the war.\n\nRussia's abduction of Ukrainian children has been widely documented and condemned by the international community. In March of this year, a United Nations commission of inquiry concluded that Russian authorities committed crimes against humanity in deporting and forcibly transferring Ukrainian children and in making them disappear. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in 2023 for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova over their alleged responsibility for those crimes.\n\nU.S. Representatives Brendan F. Boyle (PA-02), Andr\u00e9 Carson (IN-07), Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09), Jim Costa (CA-21), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Sylvia R. Garcia (TX-29), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Val T. Hoyle (O-04), Tom Kean, Jr. (NJ-07), Bill Keating (MA-09), George Latimer (NY-16), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Sarah McBride (DE), Jennifer McClellan (VA-04), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (CA-11), Mike Quigley (IL-05), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Emily Randall (WA-06), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Deborah Ross (NC-02), Norma J. Torres (CA-35), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), and Joe Wilson (SC-02) are original cosponsors of this legislation.\n\nThis bill is endorsed by Human Rights Watch, Razom for Ukraine, FDD Action, and the American Coalition for Ukraine.\n\nThe full text of the legislation is available here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-18T09:27:43Z", "2026-09-18T09:29:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://walkinshaw.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=833"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.944152008742094, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}