Federal agents from ICE and HHS have made unannounced visits to nonprofit organizations that provide legal representation to unaccompanied migrant children, seeking documents and financial records. The groups described the actions as intimidation tactics and a blatant abuse of power, as the agents had no warrants. The incident highlights the lack of guaranteed legal representation for children in immigration proceedings.
Whether it's immigration, government spending, or attacks on dissent, we're going to hold those in power accountable. Membership helps us keep asking difficult questions and following the answers wherever they lead.
ICE officers have arrived unannounced in recent days at the offices of nonprofit groups that provide legal representation to unaccompanied migrant children, the groups said. The groups called the visits “the latest example of intimidation tactics” from the Trump administration, and detailed visits in which ICE investigators, as well as agents from the Department of Health and Human Services, arrived at their offices and sought access to “documents and financial records relating to the organizations’ child clients.
”“The agents were turned away each time and were not provided with any records, as they had no warrant or authority to make such unlawful requests,” the three groups — Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Ayuda, and Kids in Need of Defense — “This is a blatant abuse of power to try to intimidate child advocates who have dedicated their lives to advocating for unaccompanied immigrant children,” Amica Executive Director Michael Lukens said in the statement.
“When federal agents show up unannounced at community-based legal service providers, it sends a chilling message to immigrant families who may already be afraid to seek help,” Ayuda’s executive director, Paula Fitzgerald, added. Neither the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement nor the Department of Health and Human Services answered HuffPost’s questions about the groups’ claims.
Unlike people in the U.S. facing criminal proceedings, those in immigration legal proceedings, including children, are not guaranteed the right to a lawyer by the federal government. In practice, that means children in immigration proceedings often appear in immigration court without a lawyer and are left to pursue their legal rights on their own. The groups that got visits from ICE and HHS agents receive congressionally allocated funding to help provide legal assistance to thousands of kids in need.
In Trump’s second term, though, the government has all but declared war on such groups.that the funding be restored. More recently, the government has sought to force the groups to hand over sensitive information about their clients,Meanwhile, immigration agents have pressured unaccompanied migrant youth in government custody to “self-deport” and leave their legal cases behind, including with the threat of “ Kids who cross the border without an adult guardian are placed in a shelter system coordinated by the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement.on Thursday, administration officials announced that they had found 146,000 “missing” immigrant children and suggested that many were the victims of sex and labor trafficking.
While child abuse and trafficking do occur among the unaccompanied migrant youth population, the 146,000 figure the administration cited simplythat his agency had made arrests and pursued the deportation of sponsors of undocumented children — as well as of former unaccompanied children themselves who had turned 18 — on the basis of their immigration status alone.
“Some, we couldn’t maybe prove that either the child was being because the child was refusing to speak. We have either found legal sponsors for the child, and then, have gone through the process of deporting the individuals,” Mullin said, adding: “Some of the individuals now that were brought over as children are now adults. The ones that are here as adults, we’re working on the process of sending them back.
”By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our
Please follow us on Google to support us ICE Immigration Nonprofits Children Legal Representation
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
B.C. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar Visits Revelstoke, Praises Local Sawmills, Old-Growth ProtectionB.C. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar visited Revelstoke on his first trip to the area, where he spoke about his hopes for local sawmills, old-growth protection, and caribou conservation.
Read more »
Oshawa man allegedly drugged live-in nanny with laced ice cream, charged with sexual assaultDurham Region police say an Oshawa man allegedly drugged a victim who moved to Canada to care for his children and investigator are concerned there may be additional victims.
Read more »
Anthropic announces 'Claude Corps' to teach nonprofits to use AI more effectivelySAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Anthropic will donate $150 million to launch a fellowship program that places coaches with nonprofits around the country to help them use artificial intelligence more effectively in their work.
Read more »
Show visits a community located in 'hail alley' for walking showEvanston, along with a few communities in the Northwest, is located in what is widely known as 'hail alley'. On the walk, hosts Loren McGinnis and Angela Knight interviewed experts on hail and insurance, including an interview with Jeremy Farkas (Mayor of Calgary).
Read more »