АНУ-ын цагаачлалын шүүхээр хэрэг нь хэлэлцэгдэж буй хүүхдүүдийн олонх нь хууль зүйн туслалцаагүйгээр өөрийгөө хамгаалахаас өөр аргагүй байдалд оржээ.
АНУ-ын Хууль зүйн яамны мэдээллээс үзэхэд, албадан гаргах шийдвэр хүлээж буй 751,861 хүүхдийн 57 хувь буюу 425,093 нь өмгөөлөгчгүй байгааг “Drop Site News” сайт мэдээллээ. Верагийн нэрэмжит Хууль зүйн хүрээлэнгийн шинжилгээгээр, өмгөөлөгчтэй хүүхдүүдийн хувьд АНУ-д үлдэх боломж нь өмгөөлөгчгүй хүүхдүүдээс харьцангуй өндөр байгаа нь тогтоогджээ.
Дотоодын аюулгүй байдлын яам (DHS) энэхүү мэдээллийн үнэн зөвийг баталгаажуулах боломжгүй гэж мэдэгдсэн байна. Тус яамны төлөөлөгч бүх цагаачдад хуулийн дагуу зохих ёсны үйлчилгээ үзүүлж, үнэгүй эсвэл хямд өртөгтэй өмгөөлөгчдийн жагсаалтаар хангадаг гэдгээ илэрхийлэв. Мөн өмнөх засаг захиргааны үед хилээр орж ирсэн хүүхдүүдийн нөхцөл байдалд анхаарч, 146,000 хүүхдийн байршлыг тогтоосон гэдгээ онцолжээ.
АНУ-ын Сенатын гишүүн Рон Уайден эрүүл мэндийн байгууллагууд 500 гаруй хүүхдийг албадан гаргахаар төлөвлөж байж болзошгүй гэсэн мэдээлэлд санаа зовниж буйгаа илэрхийлсэн байна. Харин Эрүүл мэнд, хүний нөөцийн яам (HHS) энэхүү мэдээллийг үгүйсгэж, хүүхдүүдийг зохих ёсоор баталгаажуулсан асран хамгаалагчидтай нь уулзуулах нь нэн тэргүүний зорилт гэж мэдэгдлээ.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
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More than half of the children with deportation orders are representing themselves in immigration courts, according to data from the Department of Justice.
President Donald Trump’s massive immigration crackdown has made headlines for what many view as Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s aggressive tactics and alleged inhumane conditions at detention centers.
But what is less talked about are the hundreds of thousands of children navigating the immigration court system as they face deportation.
Of the 751,861 children with pending removal cases, 57 percent, or 425,093 of them, do not have lawyers, Drop Site News reported Friday.
The independent investigative news site’s figures were sourced from an analysis of data from the DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review conducted by the Vera Institute of Justice.
“The scale is alarming,” Neil Agarwal, the principal data scientist who led the analysis at the Vera Institute of Justice, told the outlet.
The Department of Homeland Security said it could not verify the accuracy of the data reported by Drop Site News.
“All illegal aliens receive full due process. ICE gives all illegal aliens arrested a court-approved list of free or low-cost attorneys. Illegal aliens in detention have access to phones they can use to contact their lawyers,” an agency spokesperson told The Independent.
“What’s truly alarming is the 450,000 unaccompanied children that came in through the border under the Biden administration.
“Sadly, during those four years, many of these children who came across the border unaccompanied were placed with unvetted sponsors who were actually smugglers and sex traffickers. Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, DHS has located 146,000 of these children,” the spokesperson said.
The Independent has reached out to the DOJ and ICE for comment.
A spokesperson for the Acacia Center for Justice, a nonprofit which supports the legal defense of immigrants at risk of detention or deportation, noted that the 751,861 children with pending removal cases include both accompanied and unaccompanied children.
“The 751,861 figure in the Vera analysis includes hundreds of thousands of children who are not classified as unaccompanied — children who arrived with family members, children who aged into the system, and others who fall outside the specific legal and funding framework that governs unaccompanied children.
“Unaccompanied children — children who arrived in the U.S. without a parent or legal guardian — are a specific population with specific federal protections,” the spokesperson told The Independent after initial publication.
The spokesperson added that the federal government must ensure “to the greatest extent practicable” that unaccompanied children “have access to legal counsel” under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
“Congress, across party lines, has appropriated funds for that purpose for nearly two decades, channeled through the Office of Refugee Resettlement and administered through organizations including the Acacia Center for Justice,” the spokesperson said.
Nearly two-thirds of children’s removal cases that are still pending were opened in 2023 under Democratic President Joe Biden, according to the new analysis.
Of the children’s cases that were completed last year, 64 percent of them proceeded without lawyers, Drop Site News reported.
Among these completed cases, seven percent of children with a lawyer were allowed to stay in the U.S. with some form of legal relief, compared to less than one percent of children representing themselves, according to the outlet.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has identified more than 500 unaccompanied kids to be potentially removed from the U.S., according to one Democratic senator.
Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Wednesday, that he received “credible information” that HHS is using a list of more than 500 unaccompanied children in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement “as targets for expedited removal under an unprecedented legal framework.”
Notably, Wyden — the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has oversight over the Office of Refugee Resettlement — said the “vast majority” of the children on the list have legal representation in their immigration proceedings.
“Given the imminent threat to these children’s safety and legal rights, time is of the essence,” Wyden wrote. “I demand the immediate suspension of any screening initiative and planned removal action involving children in ORR care.”
An HHS spokesperson said in a statement shared by CNN in a report about Wyden’s letter, “Despite this irresponsible fearmongering, there are no plans to target these children.”
“The Trump Administration is working to identify the parents or legal guardians of unaccompanied alien children in our care because ensuring every child is placed with a properly vetted sponsor is our top priority,” the spokesperson said.
