Politico Reports on “Uneven Justice” for Child Migrants

Politico reports that child migrants face “uneven justice” in their search for humanitarian relief in the United States. The deciding factors are: (1) access to counsel and (2) location of the immigration court. (No surprise there.)

What did come as a surprise to me was to learn that “fully 88 percent of the removal orders issued since July have gone to children without an attorney.” Wow.

Politico also reports that “a juvenile assigned to judges in Texas, North Carolina and Georgia in the past 16 months was at least three times more likely to receive such an order than a child in California, Florida or New York.”

A class action has been filed by the American Immigration Council, with co-counsel American Civil Liberties Union, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Public Counsel, and K&L Gates LLP, calling for appointed counsel for children in immigration proceedings. You can find all of the materials for that lawsuit here.

-KitJ