Unaccompanied Minors in Deportation Proceedings
Q: Is it true that a 1-year-old child has never appeared as a defendant in immigration court — until this year?
A: No. Unaccompanied children in the U.S. illegally, including those as young as 1, have previously appeared in court. Some children do not have attorneys.
FULL ANSWER
The Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy for people illegally crossing the Southwest border, which resulted in the separation of families, brought much attention to the circumstances of young immigrant children. A recent Associated Press story, for example, documented the story of a 1-year-old baby from Honduras who faced a deportation hearing represented by a lawyer but without his father, who had brought him to the U.S.
The issue has prompted several inquiries from our readers,
