The Trump administration is no longer offering due process protections to the most vulnerable immigrant children
-- as it tries to increase the number of deportations,
according to a lawsuit filed this week on behalf of six children,
five of whom reside in Allegheny County.
“This case is about the most vulnerable in our immigration system:
abused, abandoned, neglected, and trafficked children,”
the opening lines of the lawsuit read.
“One would assume it would be a priority of our immigration system to protect, at least, these children.”
The 159-page complaint, filed against the Department of Homeland Security and its Secretary Markwayne Mullin in federal civil court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania,
argues that new procedures and rules implemented by immigration judges in the past year have effectively undermined a 1990 law
that was supposed to provide special protections to these children.
Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh (JFCS),
which filed the lawsuit Wednesday,
said that some of the children who have been ordered removed have already been identified as having been sexually trafficked or abused and abandoned by their parents.
Others are being deported while the children are in the middle of making their case
– or even before they have had a real opportunity to be heard.
“Despite the risks, whatever they may be, we need to stand up at this time.” said Dana Gold, chief operations officer for JFCS
“The United States has long recognized a compelling interest in protecting children from harm and trafficking,
an interest Congress has codified and reaffirmed for more than three decades,”
the complaint reads.
“Immigration authorities, and immigration courts,
throughout the United States are now refusing to afford children the due process to seek that protection.”
One of the children described in the lawsuit is a 17-year-old from Guatemala
who was issued a letter from the Department of Health and Human Services, stating
“We have determined that you were subjected to a severe form of trafficking in persons.”
But she was still ordered removed by an immigration court in Philadelphia on July 16.
The removal of a girl who has been trafficked,
the lawsuit argues,
contradicts the stated goals of Secretary Mullin,
who is quoted as saying he would “move heaven and hell to go find these kids.”
“It is a hypocritical position to espouse,”
the complaint says,
“while simultaneously looking for credit in locating missing or trafficked children.
They are right here”
and the Trump administration is
“seeking to return them to harm, without any due process.”
Another one of the children whose removal status is being challenged by the lawsuit is a 15-year-old from El Salvador who lives in Allegheny County.
The girl has already gone through the process of proving that it would not be in her interest to be reunited
“due to abuse, abandonment or neglect.”
JFCS has provided legal help to nearly 3,000 unaccompanied minors in the last five years,
including representation in immigration court for 983,
in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The Trump administration’s new guidelines and rules are making it nearly impossible for the small nonprofit to continue its work,
according to Dana Gold, the chief operations officer for JFCS.
The lawsuit is the only one in the country of its kind that Gold is aware of.
“Nobody else across the country is doing this.
They’re waiting for us,” she said.
“And so we have a grave responsibility for these children.”
#JewishFamilyAndCommunityServicesOfPittsburgh #JFCS
#abused,
#abandoned,
#neglected, and
#trafficked #children
https://www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-jewish-family-community-services-trump-administration-lawsuit/
