Latest news with #FlorenceProject
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration halts legal aid for migrant children
Migrants wait in line near El Paso, Texas to board a transport bus on May 10, 2023. Photo by Corrie Boudreaux for Source New Mexico Over the past four months, 4,073 unaccompanied migrant children have crossed Arizona's southern border, many of them fleeing organized violence or sex trafficking to seek asylum in the United States. Yesterday, President Donald Trump said they should face a judge on their own, without an attorney to help plead their case. On Feb. 18, the U.S Department of the Interior and the U.S. The Department of Health and Human Services issued a stop work order to all lawyers and legal aid organizations funded through the Unaccompanied Children Program, which helps migrant children receive legal services and representation in court. The order represents the Trump administration's latest move to gut due process protections for immigrants and leaves legal aid groups uncertain about how long they can continue to operate. Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, the deputy director of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, warned that the stop work order will force children to navigate the complex immigrant court system alone — increasing their risk of deportation — and eliminate the watchdog role that legal aid groups fulfill. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The Florence Project is the state's largest provider of free legal and social services to immigrants detained in Arizona, and carries out consultations and know your rights events for unaccompanied minors as well as taking on asylum cases. 'Without the services the Florence Project provides through the Unaccompanied Children Program, children, no matter their age, will be forced to represent themselves in immigration court alone,' Avila-Cimpeanu said in a written statement. 'These services are critical not only as a matter of fundamental fairness – children should not be asked to stand up in court alone against a trained government attorney – but also for protecting children from trafficking, abuse, and exploitation and for helping immigration courts run more efficiently.' In recent years, the number of unaccompanied minors encountered by border patrol agents has increased. A congressional report found that the national rate of children arriving at the country's southern border without their parents has consistently exceeded 130,000 since fiscal year 2021. Children who immigrate to the U.S. without their parents sometimes travel on their own to escape dangerous situations in their home countries, are headed to meet their parents already in the U.S., or are sometimes entrusted into the care of other relatives or adults. Even before the stop work order was issued, the ability of unaccompanied children to seek asylum has been long and fraught with roadblocks. There is currently a 3.7 million asylum case backlog that is only growing, year over year. The U.S. Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review oversees 71 immigration courts and roughly 700 immigration judges, who handle between 500 to 700 cases a year. And there's a high likelihood an immigrant seeking asylum doesn't have legal representation to help ensure their case is properly heard. A review of cases active in December of 2024 by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, an immigration database from Syracuse University, found that only 16.8% of immigrants, including unaccompanied children, had an attorney to assist them when they were facing a deportation order. Immigrant legal aid organizations across the country are sounding the alarm about the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors who will lose, or never receive, the benefit of legal guidance. Several groups, including the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, which operates in the Northeast, vowed to continue assisting their current clients and said they'd be willing to exhaust their existing resources to keep providing aid, but said they're worried about what will happen to the legal landscape for immigrants once they run out of funding. The Unaccompanied Children Program was developed to support local legal aid groups and prevent a patchwork of resources that was previously unable to meet the needs of immigrants arriving at the country's border with Mexico. Michael Lukens, the executive director of the Amica Center, said that the funding provided by the Unaccompanied Children Program is pivotal for more than 100,000 unaccompanied children every year, and said he expects thousands stand to lose legal representation if it isn't immediately restored. 'If this funding is not restored, over 26,000 will lose attorneys and will have to go to court alone,' he said, during a virtual news conference on Wednesday afternoon. 'This is, to my mind, the most significant attack on immigrant children since family separation.' Daniela Hernandez Chong Cuy, who runs a private law firm in California that works with unaccompanied migrant children, said that her clients aren't equipped to defend their own cases. Many of them don't speak English, and a few are too young to understand their legal situation. One of her clients is just a toddler. 'What is this 2-year-old client supposed to do without her attorney?' she asked. 'Who will speak for her in court? Who will explain to her and all of our other clients, who have literally no adult in the United States to care for them, that they will now have to navigate a very complex legal system on their own?' Gerson Navidad, who fled El Salvador at 16 years old to escape death threats from local gangs, was one of thousands of children who was able to access legal help because of the Unaccompanied Children Program. After being handcuffed by border patrol agents and nearly signing a voluntary deportation form, Navidad was finally connected to attorneys with the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, one of the country's largest providers of legal services. Two years later, he was granted asylum. Today, he is a legal permanent resident with a degree from UC Berkeley and he works with the Law Center to help children in the same situation he was in. Navidad denounced the Trump administration's stop work order as the government 'turning its back on children' and said blocking children from legal aid goes against American values. 'Children — even little kids who don't know how to read or write yet — will now face deportation proceedings, alone and against an ICE attorney,' he said. 'Without legal service providers, there is no meaningful way for them to defend themselves in court. Children will be ignored, their stories won't be heard and they will be denied their rights and the basic principle of being welcomed into safety — just like it says on the Statue of Liberty.' Lillian R. Aponte, the executive director of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, said that the organization currently has more than 800 cases open. Last year, it held over 1,200 know your rights presentations with more than 10,000 participants in immigration detention centers, and it conducted more than 9,000 consultations. All of that is jeopardized by the stop work order. 'The need is great, and the need continues and the stop work order is placing a constraint on our ability to continue to perform this work,' she said. Aponte said the Florence Project is prepared to mobilize its resources to keep going for as long as possible, but she warned that, as time goes on, that would become less and less feasible. And while some have pointed to pro bono and volunteer attorneys to fill in the gaps for nonprofit organizations like the Florence Project, Aponte said that's not a solution, either. Immigration law is complex even for those attorneys who specialize in it, and it's increasingly changing under the Trump administration. Volunteer attorneys are a valuable resource, but she said that nonprofits like the Florence Project are the ones who help mentor them to ensure they're actually making a difference. A legal challenge against the stop work order might materialize in the coming weeks. Lukens said a number of immigrant aid groups are weighing whether to launch a lawsuit against it, and there is some hope that judicial review would nullify the Trump administration's action. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
CNN
19-02-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Trump administration cuts off access to legal services for unaccompanied migrant children
The Trump administration ordered legal service providers working with unaccompanied migrant children to stop their work, according to a memo obtained by CNN. The move is the latest in a string of actions stripping key resources from immigrants in the United States – this time, targeting children and teenagers who crossed the southern border without their parents. The Department of Interior sent the order, dated Tuesday, to the Acacia Center for Justice, a nonprofit that says it assists nearly 26,000 children in and released from Office of Refugee Resettlement custody. ORR, which falls under the Health and Human Services Department, is charged with the care of unaccompanied migrant children. 'The administration's decision to suspend this program undermines due process, disproportionately impacts vulnerable children, and puts children who have already experienced severe trauma at risk for further harm or exploitation,' Shaina Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justices, said in a statement. The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, which provides 'Know Your Rights' presentations for children in government custody as well as other legal services, also condemned the move. 'Without the services the Florence Project provides through the Unaccompanied Children Program, children, no matter their age, will be forced to represent themselves in immigration court alone. This is an unprecedented attack on immigrant children,' said Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, Florence Project deputy director, in a statement. The stop-work order is unlikely to affect children who are already represented, but the abrupt cutting off of funding could force groups to downsize or close entirely. Days after President Donald Trump was inaugurated, the Justice Department similarly told legal service providers to stop work intended to help support immigrants, stripping away critical access for people in detention trying to navigate the tangled US immigration system. That order was later rescinded without explanation.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration cuts off access to legal services for unaccompanied migrant children
The Trump administration ordered legal service providers working with unaccompanied migrant children to stop their work, according to a memo obtained by CNN. The move is the latest in a string of actions stripping key resources from immigrants in the United States – this time, targeting children and teenagers who crossed the southern border without their parents. The Department of Interior sent the order, dated Tuesday, to the Acacia Center for Justice, a nonprofit that says it assists nearly 26,000 children in and released from Office of Refugee Resettlement custody. ORR, which falls under the Health and Human Services Department, is charged with the care of unaccompanied migrant children. 'The administration's decision to suspend this program undermines due process, disproportionately impacts vulnerable children, and puts children who have already experienced severe trauma at risk for further harm or exploitation,' Shaina Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justices, said in a statement. The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, which provides 'Know Your Rights' presentations for children in government custody as well as other legal services, also condemned the move. 'Without the services the Florence Project provides through the Unaccompanied Children Program, children, no matter their age, will be forced to represent themselves in immigration court alone. This is an unprecedented attack on immigrant children,' said Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, Florence Project deputy director, in a statement. The stop-work order is unlikely to affect children who are already represented, but the abrupt cutting off of funding could force groups to downsize or close entirely. Days after President Donald Trump was inaugurated, the Justice Department similarly told legal service providers to stop work intended to help support immigrants, stripping away critical access for people in detention trying to navigate the tangled US immigration system. That order was later rescinded without explanation.
CNN
19-02-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Trump administration cuts off access to legal services for unaccompanied migrant children
The Trump administration ordered legal service providers working with unaccompanied migrant children to stop their work, according to a memo obtained by CNN. The move is the latest in a string of actions stripping key resources from immigrants in the United States – this time, targeting children and teenagers who crossed the southern border without their parents. The Department of Interior sent the order, dated Tuesday, to the Acacia Center for Justice, a nonprofit that says it assists nearly 26,000 children in and released from Office of Refugee Resettlement custody. ORR, which falls under the Health and Human Services Department, is charged with the care of unaccompanied migrant children. 'The administration's decision to suspend this program undermines due process, disproportionately impacts vulnerable children, and puts children who have already experienced severe trauma at risk for further harm or exploitation,' Shaina Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justices, said in a statement. The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, which provides 'Know Your Rights' presentations for children in government custody as well as other legal services, also condemned the move. 'Without the services the Florence Project provides through the Unaccompanied Children Program, children, no matter their age, will be forced to represent themselves in immigration court alone. This is an unprecedented attack on immigrant children,' said Roxana Avila-Cimpeanu, Florence Project deputy director, in a statement. The stop-work order is unlikely to affect children who are already represented, but the abrupt cutting off of funding could force groups to downsize or close entirely. Days after President Donald Trump was inaugurated, the Justice Department similarly told legal service providers to stop work intended to help support immigrants, stripping away critical access for people in detention trying to navigate the tangled US immigration system. That order was later rescinded without explanation.
