NEW YORK, August 6 (RIA Novosti) – New fast-track immigration hearings for young migrants in the United States essentially mean that Central American children will only have a ghost of a chance of challenging their deportation as they are too unfamiliar with the US court system to collect evidence in a shorter period of time, Beth Werlin, a lawyer at the American Immigration Council, told RIA Novosti.
“We’re concerned that people won’t have enough time to build their case and feel pressure to accept voluntary departure – essentially giving up their rights to challenge their deportability and apply for other protections,” Werlin said on Wednesday.
“They may be unfamiliar with the US legal system, and its notoriously complex immigration rules, in which the burden is on you – if you want to apply for asylum – to show the court that you qualify. It’s unrealistic to do this in a short time and people could be deported and face real danger.”
More than 57,000 unaccompanied children, mostly from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, have been caught crossing the US-Mexican border illegally since October 2013. They are cared for by the government or US-based relatives until an immigration hearing.
Civil rights groups have complained about immigration courts speeding up deportation hearings on children in so-called "rocket docket" fast-tracked legal processes.
“These children face an imminent threat of being deported, potentially to their death,” added Ahilan Arulanantham, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union. “To force them to defend themselves against a trained prosecutor, with their lives literally on the line, violates due process and runs counter to everything our country stands for.”
President Barack Obama has asked Congress to approve an emergency $3.7 billion bill to deal with an influx of young migrants that has strained resources at the border, in immigration courts and government-run detention centers.
