Today the Trump administration terminated legal services for immigrant children assisted through the Acacia Center for Justice’s Unaccompanied Children Program. For over a decade, the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) has provided technical assistance and training to advocates representing children through this vital program, which currently serves over 26,000 children.
“CGRS has consulted on thousands of cases involving children who have survived unimaginable trauma in their home countries, only to be thrust into a complex and adversarial immigration system that forces them to plead their case alone, as a government lawyer fights for their deportation,” Christine Lin, CGRS Director of Training and Technical Assistance, said today. “The Unaccompanied Children Program has provided a lifeline to these children, ensuring that their rights are respected and that they are protected from abuse and exploitation as they navigate the legal process. Abandoning them while fast-tracking their deportation cases will lead to mass due process violations and wrongful denials of protection. In cases with life-or-death stakes, this will mean children being unlawfully deported to countries where they face grave harm. We urge the administration to reverse this cruel decision and immediately restore legal services for unaccompanied children.”
Congress has already appropriated funds for the Unaccompanied Children Program in compliance with the bipartisan William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA), which sets forth crucial procedures to protect unaccompanied children from trafficking and abuse as they navigate the immigration system. In the past month, over 24,000 people have written to their representatives expressing support for the program and urging Congress to defend it from the Trump administration’s attacks.