What to know about travel bans and who they could affect
Immigration law allows presidents to restrict travel into the U.S., but President Donald Trump’s bans have been more sweeping than past presidents.
DENVER ‒ The Trump administration has cancelled a $200 million legal representation contract for 26,000 children who crossed the U.S. border as unaccompanied minors, potentially leaving the kids to face deportation judges alone.
The administration had briefly halted the program in February but formally cancelled it Friday. The national Acacia Center for Justice administered the contract, working with more than 100 local providers, including the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center and the Denver-based Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network.
“This brazen, heartless act endangers children’s lives,” Ashley Harrington, the managing attorney of RMIAN’s Children’s Program, said in a statement. “Children cannot be expected to navigate the harsh and complicated immigration legal system without an attorney. This administration wants to force us to abandon them to face ICE and the immigration courts alone.”
Unlike in criminal cases, most immigration detainees are not entitled to a publicly funded attorney, although they are allowed to hire one. However, the federal government contracted with Acacia to provide services to unaccompanied children in recognition of their particular vulnerability.
Some of the children who could be losing legal representation are as young as two, advocates said. The attorneys representing the children can still appear on their behalf, but won’t be paid by taxpayers to do so.
RMIAN represents about 200 unaccompanied minors in the Denver-area. Advocates said the cancellation leaves in place basic “know your rights” presentations and legal screenings for children in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Added NIJC Executive Director Mary Meg McCarthy: “This should disturb all of us, including members of Congress across the political spectrum. In no other area of law would a child face such grievous stakes without legal representation by their side. The outcome is all but certain: Trump wants these children to be deported by any means necessary, trampling a range of statutory, regulatory, and constitutional protections.”
President Donald Trump campaigned on enacting tough new immigration policies, including mass deportations and strict border controls.