A program that offered legal representation to almost 26,000 immigrant children, some of whom are too young to read or talk, who are or were in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement has been discontinued by the Trump administration.
Of the approximately 4,000 children who reside in California, many lack parents or legal guardians in the nation and are at risk of deportation.
The Acacia Center for Justice, which oversees the federally financed program that compensated the lawyers, was directed to cease operations by the Interior Department on Tuesday. The government did not provide specific justifications for the program stop in its letter, but it did reference contracting requirements.
The letter stated that the halt work order should not be interpreted as a sign of subpar performance by your company because it is being implemented for reasons beyond your control.
A request for comment was not answered by the departments of Interior or Health and Human Services, which is in charge of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
The Trump administration has worked to undermine detainee-supporting elements of the immigration system since taking office. The directives come as an administration advisory committee, known as the Department of agency Efficiency by billionaire aide Elon Musk, has been terminating federal employees across the agency and cutting back on programs that it claims don’t support the administration’s goals.
An immigrant rights organization that has been defending children, some of whom are only months old, was alarmed by the action.
According to Michael Lukens, executive director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights in Washington, “we had hoped we could avoid this catastrophe.” Numerous NGOs will have to shut down. It indicates a current tendency to cut funds without considering the effects on people.
Under a five-year contract that is set to be renewed next year, Acacia receives roughly $200 million in federal funds yearly. In addition to providing tens of thousands of additional children with basic legal information and other legal services, it collaborates with 99 service providers nationwide to offer legal consultation to children.
According to Lukens, Amica is thinking about a number of options, including filing a lawsuit to halt the move.
A number of the kids in the program had experienced abuse, persecution, or human trafficking.
According to Daniela Hernández Chong Cuy, this implies that minors are expected to appear in court tomorrow alone, without legal representation, and attempt to defend themselves against deportation in an adversarial system. She represents 63 children ages 2 to 17 from her little Pasadena office.
Although she stated that she is ethically obligated by her oath to protect these children, she is unsure of how the office will continue to operate in its current configuration in the event that payments are not received. Approximately 75% of her clients are covered by the contract.
The system is expecting these kids to be able to explain to the court their reasons why they fear going back, file legal applications and legal papers, then translate these documents, she said. Here in the United States, these kids have absolutely no adults. When they ask, “Hey, can you help me find a private attorney?” they have no one to turn to. Literally, these are children.
The program began 20 years ago and expanded in response to the surge in unaccompanied youngsters at the southern U.S. border and the pressure from advocates to swiftly arraign minors, with or without legal representation, during the Obama administration.
According to Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy, who was involved in a lawsuit against the Obama administration, the result of this action is that thousands of children will be forcibly deported, and that number will undoubtedly include children that Congress intended the immigration law to protect. It is inhumane.
Although the United States recognizes the right to a lawyer, children do not have the right to have one assigned by the court. About 57% of children with pending cases receive legal representation as of 2017, according to Acacia, a decrease from prior years.
According to a statement from Shania Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice, the administration’s decision to halt this program violates due process, disproportionately affects children who are already at risk for harm or exploitation, and puts children who have already suffered from severe trauma at risk.
Decades of effort and bipartisan collaboration have been used to guarantee that children who have been trafficked or are at risk of being trafficked have child-friendly attorneys defending their legal rights and interests, and this ruling goes against that.
The Los Angeles Times, Rachel Uranga
