Austin Kocher speaks with Jill Williams of the Acacia Center for Justice and Becky Wolozin of the National Center for Youth Law about family reunification, the sponsorship process, and the use of habeas petitions to challenge prolonged detention.
A new Acacia Center for Justice report finds that 98% of the child habeas cases reviewed resulted in release from ORR custody and documents a dramatic rise in habeas filings on behalf of unaccompanied children.
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The report is the first systematic effort to examine the growing use of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of unaccompanied children. It finds that 80% of reviewed cases resulted in children being released within 30 days of filing and identifies repeated sponsor re-vetting and other procedural barriers as drivers of prolonged detention.
Watch Austin Kocher’s live discussion with Becky Wolozin from the National Center for Youth Law and Jill Williams from Acacia Center for Justice about current efforts to expand “habeas for children,” see what the data says about this strategy, and dive into the details of what the public needs to know about the treatment of unaccompanied youth in ORR custody under this administration.
Trump administration has indefinitely stranded hundreds of kids and lawyers from over 50 organizations are fighting for their release.
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"An army of attorneys is rallying to free hundreds of children from immigration custody, where they have been stranded indefinitely by the Trump administration without their parents or loved ones, the Guardian can reveal.
The effort is a counter strike to what critics see as unprecedented moves by federal officials to ride roughshod over children’s rights and increase deportations – while in the meantime corralling them in conditions that can allegedly lead to psychological harm."
“Stephen Miller is leading an unprecedented and intense White House drive across a host of government departments to accelerate the removal of undocumented immigrant children from the US, using tactics that critics say are cruel and racist and, in some cases, flout federal law, the Guardian has learned.
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“Stephen Miller is leading an unprecedented and intense White House drive across a host of government departments to accelerate the removal of undocumented immigrant children from the US, using tactics that critics say are cruel and racist and, in some cases, flout federal law, the Guardian has learned.
. . .
He is directing a whole-of-government approach that has been ramping up throughout Trump’s second term and is targeting a vulnerable population of undocumented children. Many abruptly find themselves denied access to legal immigration pathways in the US, with their applications fast-tracked and then rejected before being forced out of the country.
“The Trump administration has sacrificed every element of ORR’s child welfare mission on the altar of higher deportation numbers,” US senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, told the Guardian. “Instead of protecting kids from human trafficking or helping them reunite with family, Trump and officials at HHS and DHS are violating children’s rights [and] flouting federal law to hit quotas and satisfy their ideological crusade against immigrants. The result is significant harm and trauma to innocent children.””
“On-the-ground reports indicate that the government is scheduling children in ORR custody for hearings at a significantly faster pace. The data does indeed bear this out, with hearings often scheduled every few weeks within each individual case. This is reflected in the sharp increase in the share of kids in ORR custody who had a hearing each month, despite a declining total population.
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“On-the-ground reports indicate that the government is scheduling children in ORR custody for hearings at a significantly faster pace. The data does indeed bear this out, with hearings often scheduled every few weeks within each individual case. This is reflected in the sharp increase in the share of kids in ORR custody who had a hearing each month, despite a declining total population.
Both removal orders and grants of voluntary departure to children in ORR facilities have risen sharply under the second Trump administration. In August, immigration judges granted voluntary departure to 66 kids, as young as five years old.”
Acacia Center for Justice
