President Trump’s government put an end to a federal contract on Friday that offers legal representation to nearly 26,000 migrant children who have entered the United States without a parent or guardian, a movement that says immigration lawyers that children will make fast deportation vulnerable.
The contract provided financing to lawyers to represent minors who are under the custody of the resettlement of refugees – of whom at least 4,000 live in California – in the Immigration Court.
Many of these children do not read or speak in English and some are too young to read or speak, according to Joel Frost-Tift, an immigration lawyer with Public counsel.
“It is going to have a devastating effect on our customers,” said Frost-Tift. “Immigrants have five to six times more likely to succeed in their case if they are represented by a lawyer, so if they lose representation, that will be really harmful to their case.”
Public Counsel currently represents approximately 200 non -compiled migrant children in South California. Frost-Tift said that lawyers will continue to fulfill their ethical duty to help these matters for the time being, but without new financing it is unclear how long they can do that.
It is a dilemma that around 100 organizations for legal aid throughout the country are now after they have learned that the federal contract for children crossing the border without a guardian – which was renewed on March 29 – was terminated.
Last month, the Trump administration temporarily stopped all work completed under this contract. Days later, the US Department of Health and Human Services turned that decision.
Now many legal organizations are urging the Trump administration to return the course again.
“The decision of the administration to terminate these services undermines the appropriate process, has disproportionately influence on vulnerable children and places children who have already experienced serious trauma The risk of further irreparable damage or exploitationShaina Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justicesaid in a statement. “We are urging the administration to reverse this decision.”
The Acacia Center for Justice receives around $ 200 million annually from federal funds and subcontractors with non -profit organizations to guarantee legal representation for around 26,000 migrant children.
On Friday, health and human services informed that it can continue to offer his “know your rights” free legal clinics to migrant children, but it must stop paying for their legal representation.
Aber said that lawyers not only help children navigate a tumultuous legal system, but they also help them protect against human trafficking and abuse.
Wendy Young, president of Children who need Defensehas also shared the impact of the financing reduction on the safety of migrant children. She said it will Make it “anything but impossible” for children to appear in court With their immigration hearing or stay in contact with immigration agencies.
“It appears the most important lines of communication and coordination between vulnerable non -counselor and the institutions to guarantee their protection,” she said in a statement.
Unlike in the Criminal Court, people in the Immigration Court have no guaranteed right to a lawyer.
Children can prevent deportation if they are able to meet one of the requirements to obtain a special immigrant youth status in court. For example, they can prove that they were victims of crime or human trafficking, were abandoned or abused by their parents, or were prosecuted in their home country.
But obtaining this status is almost impossible without a lawyer.
Children represented by a lawyer show about 95% of the time on their hearings of the Immigration Court, while those who do not have a lawyer showed up about 33% of the time, according to a Report by the American Immigration Council.
Thousands of children have been deported in recent years after they have not appeared for their immigration hearing. Last month, the Trump governing Immigration agents in order to detect and deferred not -s -guided migrant children, according to an immigration and customs enforcement memo obtained by Reuters.
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