Exclusive: Inside the Texas courtroom where toddlers face immigration judges

By Priscilla Alvarez, Norma Galeana, CNN

(CNN) — In a Texas courtroom Monday, 25 migrant children lined the pews — a 6-year-old pretended to fly an airplane, a 3-year-old played with the mic, and a teen girl tried to make eye contact with a friend. The judge reminded everyone of what was at stake.

“I see you’re smiling and think these proceedings are funny, but I need you to pay attention,” the judge told the teen girl. “They could determine whether you remain in the country or are removed.”

Migrant children as young as 2 are showing up at immigration courts nationwide, many without attorneys, to make their case to stay in the US and avoid deportation.

Inside the immigration court in Harlingen, Texas, on Monday, caseworkers quietly explained to the minors who everyone was — from the interpreter and secretary to the judge in a black robe.

Most of the children, dressed formally with neatly styled hair, waited impatiently for the judge. Among the first to appear before the judge was a 13-year-old Honduran boy named Angel. He didn’t have an attorney.

Asked whether there was a reason he couldn’t return to Honduras, Angel told the judge, “My mom and almost my entire family are here. It’s too dangerous to go back.”

But that wasn’t enough for the judge, who told the boy he did not qualify for asylum. “Would you like to request voluntary departure, or should I issue a removal order?” The judge asked.

“I don’t know,” Angel replied before bursting into tears. He stared ahead stoically and continued to cry, eventually saying: “I have no one. I have nothing.”

“I understand, but based on your answers, US immigration laws are very strict,” the judge concluded, and gave Angel until the end of the month to appeal his deportation order.

Hundreds of unaccompanied migrant children who were detained trying to cross the southern border or whose families were picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are being held in shelters operated by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is tasked with the care of unaccompanied migrant children.

Under President Donald Trump, they have been increasingly forced to navigate a complicated and accelerated immigration process with dwindling help after the administration ended a long-standing contract for legal services this summer — and as officials try to wrap their cases at an unprecedented pace.

Interviews with more than a dozen lawyers, advocates, and current and former administration officials, as well as a review of court documents and internal agency memos, paint a picture of an immigration system that’s constantly changing, often with little notice, and as a result, fueling confusion and placing immense pressure on vulnerable children facing deportation.

Children as young as 3 appeared in the Texas courtroom Monday, accompanied by their caseworkers.

Mateo, a 3-year-old in a blue jacket with neatly combed hair, was in court for an initial appearance. When called to the defense table, he tested the microphone, drawing laughter from some in the audience. As the judge spoke with Mateo’s attorney, who appeared remotely, the 3-year-old talked and played with the microphone.

The judge later asked a group of 15 minors without attorneys: “Is this your first time in immigration court?”

They all answered, “Yes.”

“Do any of you want voluntary departure?” the judge asked.

No one raised their hand. Another child stretched her hands playfully toward the sky.

Children alone in a changing system

A federal law that’s been in place for nearly two decades, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, is supposed to provide protections for unaccompanied migrant children, including screenings to check whether they’re victims of human trafficking or have a credible fear of persecution in their home country.

But advocates and attorneys tell CNN those protections are being undermined under the Trump administration. Children are contending with a fast-tracked immigration process, including abruptly rescheduled asylum interviews, sometimes with only a 24-hour notice — and increasingly without legal help.

Immigration hearings that used to be spread out over months are now happening within days or weeks. And internal procedures are frequently changing.

Relatives and guardians of children, meanwhile, are facing additional hurdles to try to have kids released to them, which the administration says is intended for additional vetting.

Daniel Gestal, deputy director of the children’s program at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, said asylum interviews and immigration hearings for children have been sped up recently.

“We have seen that increase over the last couple months and supercharged over the last few weeks,” he said.

That matters for a child whose case may be especially complex. Like adults, children must also present evidence to back up their asylum claim, and there’s no requirement for them to have legal representation throughout the process.

“The 4-year-olds don’t know where they are and what’s going on. They may understand that they’re talking to a judge, and the judge asked them their name, but that’s the extent of their understanding,” an advocate who works with unaccompanied children told CNN.

“I’ve never witnessed so many removals and to see it happen with children who are standing there completely alone,” the advocate said.

While immigrant advocates and attorneys say the changes made by the Trump administration appear intended to quickly remove migrant children, Trump officials argue it’s for the benefit of the children to ensure they aren’t put in harm’s way — and to ensure rigorous vetting.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the US immigration court system, denied claims that cases are being fast-tracked.

A spokesperson for the office said in a statement to CNN that the agency “prioritizes the timely completion of all cases and makes scheduling adjustments as needed to ensure cases do not languish.”

‘The unraveling of due process’

In a critical change in July, the Trump administration allowed a yearslong contract to lapse. The contract, valued at $200 million a year, was with the Acacia Center for Justice, which subcontracted with 100 legal service providers across the US. Together, they provided counsel to more than 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children, according to the center.

The contract to the Acacia Center for Justice funded know-your-rights presentations, legal screenings and legal representation, among other services. Historically, not all unaccompanied children have had attorneys, but under the contract, they all had legal orientations, consultations and referrals.

“Before, under our contract, it was mandatory to enter into representation if a child was moving forward to the pleading stage while in detention. You’d never have a child in detention being ordered removed without representation,” said Shaina Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice.

In early August, the Office of Refugee Resettlement awarded up to $20 million to the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, a nonprofit organization, to provide legal services through December 31. But in the weeks that followed, attorneys and advocates said in court declarations that the USCRI attorneys either weren’t present or didn’t speak up as kids faced the court. The declarations were submitted as part of an ongoing lawsuit challenging the administration’s initial attempt to terminate the contract.

In a statement to CNN, Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Emily Hilliard cited the contract with the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants as evidence of its commitment to provide legal services to children. “Under the Trump Administration, ORR remains committed to ensuring that every unaccompanied alien child has legal representation in immigration court,” she said.

“ORR will continue facilitating the ability of [unaccompanied alien children] in its custody to fully participate in immigration legal proceedings with representation by counsel, including hearings before EOIR immigration judges, who manage their own juvenile case dockets and schedules and make independent decisions on asylum claims under consideration,” she added.

USCRI did not respond to request for comment about claims that its attorneys were either not speaking up or not showing up at some immigration hearings.

On Monday, an attorney from USCRI watched silently as a virtual “friend of the court” for some of the children, including Angel, according to Lauren Fisher Flores, legal director at ProBar, which provides legal services to unaccompanied children across South Texas.

“In the 20 years I have been in this field, I have never seen the immigration court strip children of their right to seek safety and protection under the law,” said Flores, who attended Monday’s hearing. “We are witnessing the unraveling of due process protections that have been enshrined in our laws for decades. Children deserve better than a fast-track deportation system.”

While some attorneys have continued representing their existing clients, many can’t take on new or additional cases because of the loss in federal funding. Estrella del Paso, which works with unaccompanied minors in El Paso, Texas, closed its program after the expiration of the $200 million contract in late July. Thirteen of the 18 staff members who worked in the program were laid off, according to a court declaration submitted by Melissa Mari Lopez, executive director at Estrella del Paso.

‘Will you be safe?’

In some courtrooms, immigration judges are requiring children to answer to the charges brought against them by the Department of Homeland Security that they should be removed.

“The kids who are unrepresented, they can’t read the form, much less figure out how to file it. And if they don’t put an asylum claim in, the judges are ordering their removal,” one of the advocates told CNN. “Fundamentally, that’s a complete violation of due process for a child. No one is asking a single question — who will you go to? Will you be safe?”

The lack of, or limited access to legal services, can also significantly impact a child’s asylum claim, which requires an interview with a US asylum officer. The interviews can take hours and dive into potentially traumatic events. In the absence of lawyers, kids go into the interviews alone.

Attorneys told CNN they first try to establish a rapport with a child and then help them understand what to expect in those interviews. Flores described sitting in an interview last month with a 3-year-old, who couldn’t fit in the chair and who subsequently ended up on the floor putting Band-Aids on the furniture and playing with dinosaurs while the asylum officer tried to ask the child questions.

In a September memo reviewed by CNN, ORR told shelters that “in the coming weeks” US Citizenship and Immigration Services would request virtual interviews with kids claiming asylum. The memo states that the attorney of record and/or legal service providers should be notified.

USCIS said in a statement to CNN that it receives lists of kids in custody from Health and Human Services and coordinates with the agency to schedule those with pending asylum applications for interviews — either in person or by video conference, “depending on which is the most expeditious.”

“Whether the face-to-face interview is conducted in person or by video conference, all UACs undergo the same rigorous vetting and security check process,” the statement said.

While attorneys and advocates concede there are parts of the immigration process, like asylum interviews, that were taking too long to get scheduled, the sudden changes and quick timelines place extra stress on children.

“The kids feel that pressure. The terror level of being deported — the reality of that happening soon — is causing anxiety and panic across the board also, which influences how you’re going to do at the interview,” said Laura Nally, program director of the Children’s Program at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights.

Kids who ‘shut down’

In August, there was an average of 1,883 migrant children in HHS custody, according to federal data, lower than in previous years.

ProBar, an organization that provides legal services to unaccompanied migrant children across 17 facilities in South Texas, had been a subcontractor with the Acacia Center for Justice. It continues to provide representation to the clients it already had, but access to other children is now limited.

In a court declaration, the organization cited the case of a 7-year-old who, in August, appeared before an immigration judge without an attorney and was ordered to voluntarily leave the US. The child was given 30 days.

ProBar set up a hotline for the first time called Dory, a reference to the fish in “Finding Nemo” that helps reunite father and son, as a way to serve as a resource to children in custody. It has received more than 200 calls since early August.

“You have some kids expressing emotions, others that are shut down,” said Katherine Beck, an attorney at ProBar. “It’s really, really challenging.” There are 14 staff members responding to the hotline who speak to children about their experience coming to the US, gather general information and provide guidance on the immigration process.

“What we can offer is a deep knowledge of the process,” Beck said.

Many kids are choosing to voluntarily leave the United States and go back to their home country, with the promise of a $3,000 stipend offered by the Department of Homeland Security if they do.

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