MCALLEN, RGV – As the White House faces court orders to reunite families separated at the border, immigrant children as young as three are being ordered into court for their own deportation proceedings, Kaiser Health News reports.
The Kaiser Health News story is based upon interviews with attorneys in Texas, California and Washington, D.C.
Requiring unaccompanied minors to go through deportation alone is not a new practice. But in the wake of the Trump administration’s controversial family separation policy, more young children — including toddlers — are being affected than in the past, KHN reports.
The 2,000-plus children will likely need to deal with court proceedings even as they grapple with the ongoing trauma of being taken from their parents.
“We were representing a 3-year-old in court recently who had been separated from the parents. And the child — in the middle of the hearing — started climbing up on the table,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center in Los Angeles. “It really highlighted the absurdity of what we’re doing with these kids.”
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which oversees the deportations of unauthorized immigrants, did not respond to a request for comment.
KHN’s coverage of children’s health care issues is supported in part by the Heising-Simons Foundation.
The main image accompanying the above news clip shows immigrants families being released after being processed at a detention center. (Photo: AP)
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