Some Migrant Children Navigate Court Alone, After Federal Cuts to Legal-Services Organizations

“Children so young their feet can’t touch the floor when they sit in courtroom chairs have been left without representation in immigration court because of Trump administration cuts,” the Associated Press reports. Organizations say children who arrive in the U.S. without a parent or guardian are at risk because the Trump administration suspended a key program late Tuesday, ordering that the Acacia Center for Justice and its subcontractors immediately stop work on a $200 million contract to provide representation for children entering the country alone. Daniela Hernandez, an immigration attorney who provides free legal services to about 60 children in Pasadena, California, said during a news conference Wednesday that some of her clients — who are as young as 2 — have court hearings as soon as Friday. “What is this 2-year-old client supposed to do without her attorney?” Hernandez said. “Who will speak for her in court? Who will explain to her and all of our other clients in foster care who have not only nobody, no adult in the United States to care for them, that they will now have to navigate a very complex legal immigration system on their own?”

People fighting deportation do not have the same right to representation as people going through criminal courts, although they can hire private attorneys. But there has been some recognition that children navigating the immigration court system without a parent or guardian are especially vulnerable. Unaccompanied children can request asylum, juvenile immigration status, or visas for victims of sexual exploitation. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2008 created special protections for children who arrive in the U.S. without a parent or a legal guardian. It said the government should facilitate legal representation for the children put into deportation proceedings, though it did not mandate every child have a lawyer. Acacia and its subcontractors recruit and train lawyers and work with private attorneys who provide free legal representation for the children, most of whom don’t speak English.