End of Gov’t Funded Representation for Unaccompanied Minors

The Trump administration has ended the contract under which the federal government had been funding direct representation for unaccompanied minors in immigration court, AP News reports. The government will continue to fund “Know Your Rights” presentations, for now.

The ABA has issued a statement condemning the move:

Without specialized children’s programs and attorneys, many of these kids —some as young as toddlers—will be forced to navigate adversarial immigration proceedings alone. Legal services providers help ensure that children’s immigration proceedings are fair and efficient, alleviating undue burdens on judges and prosecutors, while protecting children’s due process rights.

Abruptly ending the program today, without considering how children who are currently represented or how court proceedings will be impacted, is deeply troubling and could leave thousands of immigrant children—many of whom have already experienced severe trauma and violence—vulnerable to further harm.

-KitJ