Attorneys for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are still attempting to deport immigrant children – alone – despite Trump administration claims that it is doing all it can to reunite them with their parents, DailyMail.com has learned.
ICE attorneys in immigration courts ‘have never, not for a second said, “We’re going to do something to reunite these kids,” in court,’ Anthony Enriquez, an attorney and director of the Unaccompanied Minors Program for Catholic Charities Community Services, told DailyMail.com. The group represents separated immigrant children inNew York City.
‘They have always taken the position that these kids need to be deported and that’s that: It doesn’t matter how old they are, get them out of here,’ Enriquez added.
A spokeswoman for ICE told DailyMail.com that it is the job of ICE attorneys to represent the agency’s position before immigration judges on a case-by-case basis, and that efforts to deport the children don’t necessarily preclude reunification after a removal order has been issued.
Young migrant boys, whose faces can not be shown, are seen at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Facility in Tucson, Arizona on June 28, 2018
Between April and June, the Trump administration separated more than 2,300 children from their parents after the families came into the country – legally and illegally – across the southern U.S. border as part of a ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy. The move sparked massive public outrage, leading to Trump ending it through an executive order on June 20.
A court has ordered the government to reunite all children with their parents by July 26.
Anthony Enriquez is the director of the Unaccompanied Minor Program at Catholic Charities Community Services, Immigration and Refugee Services. The group represents immigrant children in New York City who have been separated from their parents
While the Trump administration now reports that all eligible children age 4 and younger have been reunited, many more young children are still working their way through the complex federal system as they wait to one day again see their mothers and fathers.
The children’s cases first land in immigration court during ‘master calendar’ hearings, which are open to the public. More than a dozen juvenile cases can come before the judges in a single day.
In New York City, many immigrant children who have been separated from their parents are represented by Catholic Charities Community Services attorneys, who typically seek a continuance to give the children time to locate parents and determine if they have a case to stay in the country through asylum or otherwise.
On a recent day during one of these so-called ‘juvie dockets,’ an ICE attorney in the courtroom of New York City immigration Judge Helen Sichel repeatedly sought to advance deportation proceedings against children as young as 7, and challenged efforts by Catholic Charities to learn the location and legal disposition of their parents.
The ICE attorney objected to requests for continuances and asked the judge why locating the parents was necessary and relevant, given that the government had enough to make a case that the children were aliens and deportable.
President Donald Trump, accompanied by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen (L) and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence (R), displays an executive order he signed in the White House on June 20 that will end the practice of separating family members apprehended at the southern U.S. border
The attorney for Catholic Charities argued that otherwise these children could wind up alone in their home country.
On this particular day and in this courtroom, the judge decided in favor of the children.
‘It has to be clear and unequivocal that there is someone in the home country who can take care of him when he arrives,’ Sichel said. ‘He’s only eight.’
However, children in other parts of the country may not fare so well: Immigration judges in New York State are the most likely to grant asylum, with a 34 percent denial rate, according to federal data obtained by the Daily Mail. By comparison, immigration judges in North Carolina and Georgia have a 96 percent asylum denial rate.
Imelda Maynard is a staff attorney for Catholic Charities in southern New Mexico, which has a 91 percent denial rate in asylum cases. In that region the organization primarily represents parents who have been separated from their children.
‘I, personally, have not been able to get a clear answer out of ICE on how we can assist them in the reunification efforts,’ Maynard told DailyMail.com. ‘The kids we have found have been all over the country. We’ve found kids in New York, Florida, Chicago, and their parents are here in New Mexico.’
The younger children may not always be aware of what is going on as their fate is being decided, said a New York-based interpreter who asked to remain anonymous to avoid losing the job.
‘They kind of sit there and smile at you and they know that they’re in court, but they’re not really understanding the whole process,’ the interpreter told DailyMail.com. ‘It’s kind of useless to interpret for them because they’re not really getting a grasp of what’s happening, what my role is, what the attorneys’ roles are and who is really helping them stay … it’s heart breaking.’
The likelihood of whether an immigrant’s application will be successful varies dramatically depending on the state in which their case is heard. New York was the most likely to welcome asylum seekers, with only 34 percent denied in 2018, while immigration judges in North Carolina and Georgia had a 96 percent denial rate
Santiago, 7, recently attended a court session in New York City wearing a Batman shirt and a big grin. His feet dangled a foot above the ground and he cast smiles toward the other kids waiting their turn before the judge.
Later on, Rosa, 8, looked more scared as she sat before the judge. She wore a yellow tutu and red sneakers and whispered her name when asked. She had already been detained for 55 days.
Ana Christina, 15, was one of the lucky ones. She was to be reunited with her father in a week after 123 days of detention – though it remained unclear if they would be allowed to stay in the country.
Each of their proceedings took just a few minutes. Children can wait up to 60 days in detention before receiving a notice to appear, Enriquez said.
‘If you are a minor and you have no legal claim to be in the country, then yeah, we have to put you through the procedure and initiate removal proceedings,’ Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the anti-immigration Federation for American Immigration Reform, told DailyMail.com.
‘It would be much, much better if their parents were with them, but under the current conditions we do not have the option of detaining the children and parents together for more than 20 days,’ Mehlman added.
If the children are sent to their home countries, many would face horrific violence and poverty – particularly in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, said Lucy Luna, executive director of the Salvadorian Association for Rural Health in El Salvador. The organization works with poor children in rural communities.
‘The police are killing the gangsters, the gangs are killing the police,’ Luna told DailyMail.com. ‘Between those situations there are people who have to survive every day.’
In one case, Luna’s organization has been working with a 5-year-old girl who attempted suicide by jumping out of a window onto a nearby electric fence. That is the level of desperation driving these families into the United States, she said.
A view of inside U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detention facility shows children at Rio Grande Valley Centralized Processing Center in Rio Grande City, Texas, June 17, 2018
A young demonstrator participates in the Families Belong Together – Freedom For Immigrants March at Los Angeles City Hall on June 30
‘The situation in the country is you’re going to live or die,’ she said. ‘When people make the decision to go to the U.S. border they know what is going to happen, but there is no community here, so the only choice they have is to go.’
Details on the separation of children from parents at the southern U.S. border emerged in April when the New York Times reported that the process had begun no later than October 2017.
The Trump administration initially denied such a policy existed, with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen testifying before Congress in April that separation was not being used as a deterrent, but done in the best interest of the child.
Her testimony came shortly after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the ‘zero tolerance’ policy, which directed the government to prosecute all adult immigrants entering the country illegally, resulting in the separation of families.
‘If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law,’ Sessions said in May. ‘If you don’t like that, then don’t smuggle children over our border.’
Outrage reached a crescendo in June when ProPublica released audio of 10 Central American children sobbing and screaming for ‘Mami’ and ‘Papa’ at a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facility.
By June 20, the public anger pressured Trump into signing an executive order directing that families be reunited. On June 30 protests were held in more than 700 U.S. cities in opposition of Trump’s handling of the issue.
Timeline: Separation at the Border
March 7, 2017: John Kelly, former secretary of Homeland Security confirms that the Trump administration is considering separating families at the border as a deterrent.
April 6, 2018: Attorney General Jeff Sessions announces a ‘zero tolerance policy’ ordering the government to prosecute all adult migrants entering the country illegally, which leads to the separation of children from their parents.
April 11, 2018: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen testifies in Congress that there is no policy to deter immigration through separation of families.
April 20, 2018: The New York Times reports that more than 700 children have been separated from their parents since October 2017.
June 15, 2018: The Department of Homeland Security reveals nearly 2,000 children have been separated from their parents since the zero tolerance policy was introduced in April.
June 18, 2018: President Donald Trump repeats previous claims that family separation is the fault of Democrats in Congress and that he is unable to do anything about the situation, saying: ‘We could have an immigration bill, we could have child separation. We’re stuck with these horrible laws. They’re horrible laws. What’s happening is so sad. It’s so sad.’
June 20, 2018: Facing a national backlash, Trump signs an executive order to end the separation of parents from children. More than 2,300 had been separated from their children during the zero tolerance policy, according to Homeland Security.
June 27, 2018: In response to an ACLU lawsuit, a federal judge ordered the reunification of the thousands of parents and children forcibly separated by the Trump administration. In its ruling, the court said all children must be reunited within 30 days; children under five within 14 days; and all parents must be able to speak with their children within 10 days.
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