Children In Court Alone

Children, detained and alone, facing the government of the United States. This is what deporting the so-called worst of the worst looks like.

On Friday, the Trump administration awarded a no-bid $158 million contract for legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children. It went to a group called Our Rescue. Multiple women have sued its founder alleging sexual assault. He denies it and was removed. Its current CEO is a former ICE official. It remains unclear whether the group employs a single immigration lawyer.

The detained children lost their real lawyers two weeks ago. A network of nearly 100 nonprofits had represented more than 20,000 of them under a federal contract. The government withheld roughly $65 million in payments but the lawyers kept working for the children anyway. On July 31, the government let the contract expire.

The results in court have been cruel and heartbreaking. Last Wednesday in Manhattan, children detained in government shelters appeared in court on a video screen to face deportation, some as young as 11. Other courts have seen children as young as 4. Almost none had a lawyer. The administration is holding these children longer, slowing their release to family, and speeding their hearings. One boy, Diego, detained in a New York shelter, asked the judge for help with his asylum form. “Unfortunately I can’t help you,” she said.

Children, detained and alone, facing the government of the United States. This is what deporting the so-called worst of the worst looks like.