#Lindsay Toczylowski

[minnesotafollower]

Biden Administration Announces Proposed Restrictions on Asylum Applications

On February 21, the Biden Administration announced a proposed rule that would  require rapid deportation of an immigrant at the U.S. border who had failed to request protection from another country while en route to the U.S. or who had not previously notified the U.S. via a mobile app of their plan to seek asylum in the U.S. or who had applied for the new U.S. humanitarian parole programs for…

[shelovescontrol91]

Camila Cabello had a "transformational" visit to the U.S.-Mexico border recently.

Alongside This Is About Humanity, Cabello recently visited families and children at the Caritas migrant shelter in Tijuana to learn more about what asylum seekers are facing as they travel to the U.S. for a better life and future. For Cabello, the visit was a reminder of her own immigrant journey and a reflection on how things would've panned out differently for her family had they immigrated in today's climate.

"Without a doubt, these are some of the most resilient people I have ever met. Many of them are fleeing life-threatening situations and experiencing unspeakable traumas just for the chance to live a safe life with more opportunity," Cabello tells PEOPLE exclusively. "These parents have some of the same hopes and dreams for their children as my mom had for me when we left Cuba."

“Our stories started out in search of a better life but timing created two completely different outcomes," the "Don't Go Yet" singer, 24, adds. "This realization will always stay with me."

Cabello — who immigrated from Cuba at age 6 alongside her mother Sinu — says that giving back to migrants like herself and learning the intricacies of the immigration system has always been important for her and her platform. (Her father Alejandro also immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico.

"We left everything behind and came to this country with nothing in our pockets but hope for a better life for our family," she says. "For me, part of honoring my family's heritage and our journey as immigrants is finding ways to learn from and support those who may have had similar experiences."

"There are so many articles in the news about policies and crises at the border, but it is important to remember that these are stories about real people," she adds. "Spending time with and hearing the stories of these families and children during our trip was transformational for me."

During her journey to the Caritas shelter in Tijuana, Cabello spoke to immigration activists including those at This Is About Humanity, the Immigration Defenders Law Center and FWD.us as she learned about the "incredible work" they're doing to advocate for those who are most vulnerable.

At the Caritas Shelter, the former Fifth Harmony star spoke with the non-profit's executive director about the resources that are being provided as they away to receive a case in court and to those who were turned away and deported. The shelter, like many migrant shelters across Mexico, is mostly filled by families with small children.

"Many of the people seeking protection at the border right now are families, often moms traveling alone with their young children," explains Lindsay Toczylowski of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center. "A commonality among them is that they are seeking safety for their children in order to give them a fighting chance at a future. So many of the families we are helping have been victims of unspeakable violence, and their resilience to keep fighting for a better future for their children is inspiring."

At the Caritas Shelter, kids can access educational resources at the Yes We Can mobile school.

"Seeing the joy on their faces as we played together was a simple but heartbreaking reminder that they are all just kids," says Cabello. "Kids who want to run around, draw, giggle, and be loved, just like any of our family members. The difference is that these children are forced to deal with incredible challenges and trauma that no child or person should ever have to face.”

For Cabello, the trip was a moment to reflect on "where I would be had I been coming to the United States as an immigrant now."

"This visit helped me better understand our immigration system and the heartbreaking realities that so many migrants and asylum seekers are facing at our borders," says Cabello. "I am so grateful to the organizations for their incredible work and to all the people who bravely shared their journeys, but I know there are thousands and thousands of similar stories out there."

"There are so many factors that force people into seeking asylum, but regardless of the reason, we should all have empathy for those who are simply trying to build a safe and better life for themselves and their family," she adds.

This Is About Humanity co-founder Elsa Collins accompanied Cabello throughout the trip and explained how many of those leaving their home countries to get into the U.S. are "escaping dangerous conditions and making the hardest decisions to keep their families and children safe."

"The issues at the border go beyond the border itself. Children and families fleeing danger and violence is a safety issue. Individuals seeking asylum is a climate issue. Vulnerable communities seeking refuge at the border is a LGBTQ+ humanitarian issue," Collins tells PEOPLE. "We can and should be able to listen to and understand the human stories we are hearing at the border, because we can then center those stories and recognize that this is about human rights."

This Is About Humanity, the organization that accompanied Cabello on the trip, centers on the stories of separated and reunified families at the border to "breathe humanity and empathy" into the issue. It's organizations like this one, then, that help clear misconceptions about those seeking to enter the U.S.

"The idea that they are bringing crime or violence to the US is not only not true, but in many cases these the very things — gang and cartel violence — that they are fleeing from," says Toczylowski. "It's important to see these asylum-seeking families for what they are — families just like our own, in incredibly difficult situations, seeking help in order to save their lives and the lives of their children."

Cabello has been a fierce advocate for immigrants in the past and even dedicated a speech at the 2018 Grammy Awards to Dreamers.

[leanpick]

How Do You Teach 6-Year-Olds Their Legal Rights?

How Do You Teach 6-Year-Olds Their Legal Rights?

Good morning. Every Tuesday and Friday, Lindsay Toczylowski visits the Long Beach Convention Center, where she gathers small groups of children, some as young as 6, for a 45-minute lesson. She’s not there to teach the ABCs. She’s there to educate them about their legal rights. Toczylowski is an immigration lawyer. Her students are migrants who crossed the southwestern border without a…

[socialjusticeartshare]

When Will the US End Magdalena Hernández’s Family Separation Nightmare?

She arrived at the border with two of her daughters in 2017. They haven’t seen each other since.

In the summer of 2019, Magdalena Hernández Pérez and I were outside her home on the edge of Cubulco, a small city four hours north of Guatemala City. As her grandkids played on the patio, Hernández, looking burdened beyond her 39 years, sat on a teal chair that matched the wall behind her. “Why didn’t they respect my rights?” she asked in Spanish, her voice shaking, her cries evoking the distinct guttural sounds I’d heard as my grandmother’s children stood over her casket. 

The “they” Hernández was referring to were US border officials. Two years before we met, in December 2017, they put her in a frigid holding area at a detention center with her two youngest daughters, Mariana, who was 9 years old at the time, and Julieta, who was 16. (Their names are pseudonyms.) A week later, the family was transferred to a room at a second detention facility. The next afternoon, a border official called Hernández’s name and she raised her hand. Three officials then took her outside the room she’d been in with her daughters. A female guard shackled Hernández by the legs and hands as Julieta and Mariana looked on. When Hernández asked why she was being shackled, one of the officials said that if she resisted, she’d be treated “like she should be treated.”

Mariana cried and screamed, demanding that her mom be let go; border officials still took Hernández away. “It’s never left my mind,” Julieta said about that moment. “It was a horribly traumatic because I never thought I’d see my mom like that.” The two girls began to feel better after two officials reassured them that it was only a matter of time before they were going to be taken to join their mother. “They tricked us,” Julieta said. They ended up at a shelter in California with no idea where their mother was. 

They haven’t seen her since. After being pulled away from her daughters, Hernández was led to a bus that transferred her to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Arizona, about two hours north of the border. Along the way, she couldn’t stop wondering where her daughters were: How were they? Who was taking care of them now that she couldn’t? During parts of the ride, she wanted to die. During others, she felt like she’d already been killed.

For the next month or so Hernández had no idea where her kids were, despite her pleas for information from immigration officials. In February 2018, after two months of detention in Arizona, ICE deported Hernández. She left the United States by herself. When she got off the plane in Guatemala City, she still hadn’t been able to talk her daughters. “I returned to my country destroyed,” Hernández said. 

“I returned to my country destroyed.”

Hernández’s family is one of thousands that was separated during the Trump administration. Many have been reunited in response to a class-action lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2018. But Lee Gelernt, the ACLU’s lead attorney in that lawsuit, said there are more than a thousand parents like Hernández who were deported without their kids and have yet to be reunited. And yet, even within that group, Hernández’s situation is unusual. Separated children whose parents were deported alone were usually released from government shelters to live with relatives or family friends who were already in the United States. Ending up as Mariana and Julieta did, was rare.

In that first conversation, when I asked Hernández where Mariana and Julieta were now, she took out her phone and pulled up a photo. It showed Mariana looking happy on a California beach next to a few other Latin American children. She was living with foster parents in what had become her new family. Photos like this one and phone calls were the only threads that kept Hernández present in Mariana’s life. Hernández had more contact with Julieta, who’d left the foster family she and Mariana were placed with when she turned 18, joining relatives in Tennessee. She too lost touch with her sister. The Hernández family that arrived at the border together was split between two coasts and two countries.

Now, as the Biden administration has made family reunification a priority, they finally have some hope of being reunited—although what that will look and when it will happen remains to be seen. In early February, it created a task force to figure out how to reunify separated families to “the greatest extent possible.” Soon after, the administration announced that Michelle Brané, a highly respected advocate for migrant women and children, would serve as the task force’s executive director. The group’s initial report and recommendations are due by June. For parents like Hernández, they will be long months. And even with seamless logistics, no government action will undo the years of trauma that parents and children have now endured. 

“This case perfectly exemplifies all of the trauma and the pain and the years of recovery that family separation is going to cause,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, the executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center, a Los Angeles nonprofit that has represented Julieta and Mariana. “It’s a microcosm of what happened to hundreds and thousands of people.” Toczylowski stressed that people like Hernández absolutely should be allowed to return to the United States for the opportunity to reunite with their kids.

Making matters all the more frustrating is that Hernández still does not have a clear explanation for why her children were separated from her. What she does know is that if immigration agents had dropped her and her daughters off at a shelter three years ago, the family would be together right now. “For the past three years, it’s felt like they killed me,” she said. “Because I haven’t been able to be close to my little girl.”

“I want to see Mariana because she’s the youngest,” Hernández said. “I want to be with her and hug her and tell her how much I love her.” She prays to God that, one day, there will be justice. 

Article Source

[immigrationnewsdigest]

.@AliMayorkas on NPR today asked about root causes & he begins answer by saying “you can’t underestimate push factors...” & I started to cry in my car, so relieved to hear a US official acknowledge this after 4 years of demonization of asylum seekers. https://t.co/vKWJzugHoM

— Lindsay Toczylowski (@L_Toczylowski) February 12, 2021

[thenewsedge]

MSNBC's Alicia Menendez talks with NBC Justice Correspondent, Julia Ainsley; Immigrant Defenders Law Center Executive Director, Lindsay Toczylowski; and former federal prosecutor, Cynthia Alksne about three major high court rulings this week that the President is likely stewing over.June 28, 2020

[mamasybebeses]

Más niños pequeños aparecen solos en la corte para ser deportados bajo separación familiar - cosas de mamis

A medida que la Casa Blanca enfrenta órdenes judiciales para reunir a familias separadas en la frontera, niños inmigrantes de tan sólo 3 años de edad están siendo ordenados a la corte para sus propios procedimientos de deportación, según abogados en Texas, California y Washington, D.C.

Exigir que los menores no acompañados pasen por el proceso de deportación solos no es una práctica nueva. Sin embargo, a raíz de la controvertida política de separación familiar de la administración Trump, más niños pequeños -incluidos los que empiezan a caminar- se ven afectados que en el pasado.

Es probable que los más de 2.000 niños y niñas tengan que enfrentarse a los procedimientos judiciales mientras luchan contra el trauma continuo de ser arrebatados por sus padres.

“Hace poco representamos en la corte a un niño de 3 años que había sido separado de sus padres. Y el niño – en medio de la audiencia – empezó a subir a la mesa.”

“Hace poco representamos en la corte a un niño de 3 años que había sido separado de sus padres. Y el niño – en medio de la audiencia – comenzó a subirse a la mesa”, dijo Lindsay Toczylowski, directora ejecutiva de Immigrant Defenders Law Center en Los Ángeles. “Realmente resaltó lo absurdo de lo que estamos haciendo con estos chicos.”

El Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de Estados Unidos, que supervisa las deportaciones de inmigrantes no autorizados, no respondió a una solicitud de comentarios.

Toczylowski dijo que los padres típicamente han sido juzgados junto con niños pequeños y han explicado las circunstancias a menudo violentas que los llevaron a buscar asilo en Estados Unidos.

Sin embargo, los niños detenidos en el marco de la nueva política de “tolerancia cero” se enfrentan a procedimientos de inmigración sin que sus padres estén a su lado.

“El padre podría ser el único que sabe por qué huyeron del país de origen, y el niño está en una posición desventajosa para defenderse”, dijo Toczylowski.

Mientras tanto, la situación legal general está cambiando. Un juez federal ordenó el martes por la noche que la Casa Blanca reunificara a las familias dentro de los 14 días si el niño es menor de 5 y 30 días si el niño es mayor. El Departamento de Justicia no ha indicado si apelará. Los abogados que están involucrados en los casos dijeron que no está claro cómo funcionará la orden del juez en la práctica, y cuándo y cómo podría tener efecto.

“No sabemos cómo la orden del juez va a jugar con la reunificación de los niños. ¿Qué pasa si los padres ya han sido deportados? dijo Cynthia Milian, una abogada con sede en Texas en el Powers Law Group.

Mientras tanto, agregó, las implicaciones para los niños siguen siendo una preocupación urgente.

“El padre puede ser el único que sabe por qué huyeron del país de origen, y el niño está en una posición desventajosa para defenderse.”

Dado el trauma que los niños enfrentaron en su país de origen que espoleó a sus familias a huir y el dolor de estar separados de sus padres, la expectativa de que los niños puedan montar una defensa legal es “desmesurada”, dijo el Dr. Benard Dreyer, director de la división de pediatría conductual y del desarrollo de la Facultad de medicina de la Universidad de Nueva York.

“Ciertamente, es muy inapropiado”, señaló Dreyer, que es miembro del comité de defensa de la Academia Estadounidense de Pediatría. “Me avergüenza que estemos haciendo esto.”

Líderes de tres organizaciones de servicios legales y de un bufete privado confirmaron que se está entregando a los niños notificaciones para que comparezcan ante el tribunal. No tienen derecho a un abogado, sino que reciben una lista de organizaciones de servicios legales que podrían ayudarles.

Steve Lee, profesor de psicología infantil de la UCLA, dijo que esperar que los niños aboguen por sí mismos en la corte es una “expectativa increíblemente desalineada”.

“Eso no podría ser menos apropiado desde el punto de vista del desarrollo”, dijo, y agregó que algunos niños podrían no ser lo suficientemente maduros para verbalizar una respuesta.

Más de 2.000 niños y niñas que fueron separados de sus padres en la frontera han sido enviados a los rincones más remotos de la nación a centros de cuidado y hogares de acogida.

Funcionarios del Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos enfatizaron el martes que la agencia está trabajando para unificar a los niños ya sea con un padre o con un patrocinador. Pero no proporcionó un cronograma de cuánto tiempo tomaría.

“Estamos trabajando a través de las agencias para la reunificación de cada niño con[un] padre o familia tan pronto como sea práctico”, dijo Jonathan White, secretario asistente de preparación y respuesta del HHS, en una llamada a los medios de comunicación.

Más de 2.000 niños y niñas que fueron separados de sus padres en la frontera han sido enviados a los rincones más remotos de la nación a centros de cuidado y hogares de acogida.

Los representantes del HHS dijeron que los niños en los centros administrados por la Oficina de Reasentamiento de Refugiados reciben atención adecuada, incluyendo servicios médicos y de salud mental, y por lo menos dos llamadas telefónicas a la semana con la familia.

Sin embargo, los niños que acaban de llegar a los centros de cuidado todavía no están conectados con sus familias, dijo Megan McKenna, portavoz de Kids in Need of Defense. Ella dijo que los niños llegan a los centros de cuidado sin el número de seguimiento de los padres, y los padres no tienden a tener los números de sus hijos.

Después de que los niños llegan a los centros de cuidado, los funcionarios del HHS trabajan para encontrar un “padrino” que cuide al niño, como un padre, tutor, miembro de la familia o amigo de la familia. Históricamente, los menores no acompañados -que solían ser adolescentes- encontraban un padrino en aproximadamente un mes y medio.

Sin embargo, Rachel Prandini, abogada del personal del Centro de Recursos Legales para Inmigrantes, dijo que encontrar un patrocinador es más difícil ahora, dados los temores recientes de que dar un paso adelante para aceptar a un niño podría desencadenar la deportación de un patrocinador.

En abril, el HHS llegó a un acuerdo con los agentes del orden público que exige que los patrocinadores y los miembros adultos de la familia presenten las huellas dactilares y estén sujetos a una revisión exhaustiva de antecedentes penales y de inmigración.

Los funcionarios del HHS dijeron que el proceso está destinado a proteger al niño.

Los abogados de inmigración de todo el país han estado volando a Texas para ayudar a representar a los niños y sus familias, dijo George Tzamaras, un portavoz de la Asociación Americana de Abogados de Inmigración.

Es imposible saber cuántos niños han comenzado los procedimientos de deportación, dijo Tzamaras. “Ha habido informes de niños menores de 3 años y otros de hasta 17.”

Ashley Tabaddor, presidenta de la Asociación Nacional de Jueces de Inmigración y jurista en Los Ángeles, dijo que los casos de menores no acompañados son escuchados en un expediente especial allí. Dijo que los jueces que se ocupan de los casos fueron capacitados durante la última administración sobre las etapas de desarrollo de los niños, el control de los impulsos y la garantía de que los procedimientos sean comprensibles para los niños.

Ella dijo en una declaración que el trabajo de la corte es vital: “Esto no es un tribunal de tráfico. Un error en un caso de asilo puede resultar en la cárcel, tortura o una sentencia de muerte”, dijo Tabaddor. “Somos una nación de leyes. Valoramos la justicia, la justicia y la transparencia”.

Dijo que los niños que solicitan asilo tienden a presentar su caso en un entorno de oficina no adversarial con un funcionario de audiencias.

Pero no siempre es así, dijo Prandini. Los abogados pueden elegir una estrategia que requiera más tiempo en la sala del tribunal.

“A veces es difícil para los adultos. Van a la corte y se ponen nerviosos ante un juez,” dijo Milian. “¿Se imaginan a un niño teniendo que ir ante un juez y explicarles por qué tienen que huir de su país?”

Toczylowski dijo que su organización está tratando de ayudar a reunificar a las familias para que los niños puedan ser juzgados junto con sus padres.

“Los niños no entienden las complejidades que están involucradas con la deportación y la corte de inmigración”, dijo. “Ellos entienden que han sido separados de sus padres, y la meta principal es volver con la gente que aman.”

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La entrada Más niños pequeños aparecen solos en la corte para ser deportados bajo separación familiar se publicó primero en Mamás y Bebés.

from Mamás y Bebés https://ift.tt/2KWoJFH via Más niños pequeños aparecen solos en la corte para ser deportados bajo separación familiar

[creeasion-blog]

@amirahvannofficial 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 We must do better! If they don’t, We will. I cannot believe this video! Then again, I can. Thank you @mattmcgorry & so many who work tirelessly for a better America 🙌🏽 #July4th #bethechange #Repost @mattmcgorry #Repost @ivancejatv ・・・ 🙇🏾‍♂️🙇🏽‍♀️💔😠😡 Little kids have to be their own lawyers in immigration courts #FreeTheKids Repost @snaybelle: As the White House faces court orders to reunite families separated at the border, immigrant children as young as 3 are being ordered into court for their own deportation proceedings, according to attorneys in Texas, California and Washington, D.C. . . Requiring unaccompanied minors to go through deportation alone is not a new practice. But in the wake of the Trump administration’s controversial family separation policy, more children – including toddlers – are being affected than in the past. . . The more than 2,000 children probably will need to deal with court proceedings even as they grapple with the trauma of being taken from their parents. “We were representing a 3-year-old in court recently who had been separated from the parents. And the child – in the middle of the hearing – started climbing up on the table,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center in Los Angeles. “It really highlighted the absurdity of what we’re doing with these kids.”' ⚠️⚠️⚠️ @nowthisnews . . . . . . #AbolishIce#WeAreTheMedia #peaceaccelerators#IndependentJournalism #PeoplePlanetPeace #ItsInOurHands #ItsUpToUs#OurRevolution #PoliticalRevolution #WeThePeople#ForThePeopleByThePeople #WeAreThe99Percent#WeAreInThisTogether #PeoplePlanetPeaceView

[notmypresidenttrump]

'As the White House faces court orders to reunite families separated at the border, immigrant children as young as 3 are being ordered into court for their own deportation proceedings, according to attorneys in Texas, California and Washington, D.C. Requiring unaccompanied minors to go through deportation alone is not a new practice. But in the wake of the Trump administration’s controversial family separation policy, more children – including toddlers – are being affected than in the past. The more than 2,000 children probably will need to deal with court proceedings even as they grapple with the trauma of being taken from their parents. “We were representing a 3-year-old in court recently who had been separated from the parents. And the child – in the middle of the hearing – started climbing up on the table,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center in Los Angeles. “It really highlighted the absurdity of what we’re doing with these kids.”' ⚠️⚠️⚠️ @nowthisnews . . . . . . #AbolishIce#WeAreTheMedia #peaceaccelerators#IndependentJournalism #PeoplePlanetPeace #ItsInOurHands #ItsUpToUs#OurRevolution #PoliticalRevolution #WeThePeople#ForThePeopleByThePeople #WeAreThe99Percent#WeAreInThisTogether #PeoplePlanetPeaceView | #Repost @agirlhasnopresident ・・・ #Repost @snaybelle

[socialjusticeartshare]

More toddlers appear alone in court for deportation under family separation

As the White House faces court orders to reunite families separated at the border, immigrant children as young as 3 are being ordered into court for their own deportation proceedings, according to attorneys in Texas, California and Washington, D.C.

Requiring unaccompanied minors to go through deportation alone is not a new practice. But in the wake of the Trump administration’s controversial family separation policy, more young children — including toddlers — are being affected than in the past.

The 2,000-plus children will likely need to deal with court proceedings even as they grapple with the ongoing trauma of being taken from their parents.

“We were representing a 3-year-old in court recently who had been separated from the parents. And the child — in the middle of the hearing — started climbing up on the table.”

“We were representing a 3-year-old in court recently who had been separated from the parents. And the child — in the middle of the hearing — started climbing up on the table,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center in Los Angeles. “It really highlighted the absurdity of what we’re doing with these kids.”

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which oversees the deportations of unauthorized immigrants, did not respond to a request for comment.

Toczylowski said parents typically have been tried along with young children and have explained the often-violent circumstances that led them to seek asylum in the U.S.

The children being detained under the new “zero tolerance” policy, though, are facing immigration proceedings without mom or dad by their side.

READ MORE: What constitutional rights do undocumented immigrants have?

“The parent might be the only one who knows why they fled from the home country, and the child is in a disadvantageous position to defend themselves,” Toczylowski said.

Meanwhile, the broader legal situation is in flux. A federal judge Tuesday night commanded the White House to reunify families within 14 days if the child is under 5 and 30 days if the child is older. The Justice Department has not indicated whether it will appeal. Attorneys who are involved in the cases said it’s unclear how the judge’s order will work in practice, and when and how it could take effect.

“We don’t know how the judge’s order is going to play out with reunification of children. What if parents have already been deported?” said Cynthia Milian, a Texas-based attorney at the Powers Law Group.

In the interim, she added, the implications for kids remain an urgent concern.

“The parent might be the only one who knows why they fled from the home country, and the child is in a disadvantageous position to defend themselves.”

Given the trauma the children faced in their home country that spurred their families to flee and the pain of being separated from a parent, the expectation that children can mount a legal defense is “unconscionable,” said Dr. Benard Dreyer, director of the division of developmental-behavioral pediatrics at New York University School of Medicine.

“It’s certainly grossly inappropriate,” said Dreyer, who is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics advocacy committee. “I’m ashamed that we’re doing this.”

Leaders at three legal services organizations and a private firm confirmed that the children are being served with notices to appear in court. They are not entitled to an attorney but rather are given a list of legal services organizations that might help them.

Steve Lee, a UCLA child psychology professor, said expecting the children to advocate for themselves in court is an “incredibly misaligned expectation.”

“That couldn’t be any less developmentally appropriate,” he said, adding that some children may not be mature enough to verbalize a response.

READ MORE: How Trump’s family separation policy became what it is today

More than 2,000 children who were separated from their parents at the border have been dispatched to the far corners of the nation to care facilities and foster homes.

Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services emphasized Tuesday that the agency is working to unify children with either a parent or a sponsor. But it did not provide a timeline for how long that would take.

“We are working across agencies for reunification of each child with [a] parent or family as soon as that is practical,” Jonathan White, HHS’ assistant secretary for preparedness and response, said in a media call.

More than 2,000 children who were separated from their parents at the border have been dispatched to the far corners of the nation to care facilities and foster homes.

HHS representatives said children in facilities run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement receive adequate care, including medical and mental health services, and at least two phone calls per week with family.

Yet children who are just arriving at care facilities are still not connected with their families, said Megan McKenna, a spokeswoman for Kids in Need of Defense. She said the children arrive at care facilities without a parent’s tracking number, and parents don’t tend to have their kids’ numbers.

After kids arrive in care facilities, HHS officials work on finding a “sponsor” to care for the child, such as a parent, guardian, family member or family friend. Historically, unaccompanied minors — who tended to be teens — found a sponsor in about a month and a half.

However, Rachel Prandini, a staff attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said finding a sponsor is more difficult now given recent fears that stepping forward to accept a child could trigger a sponsor’s deportation.

In April, HHS entered into an agreement with law enforcement officials that requires sponsors and adult family members to submit fingerprints and be subject to a thorough immigration and criminal background check.

READ MORE: How the toxic stress of family separation can harm a child

HHS officials said the process is meant to protect the child.

Immigration lawyers from around the country have been flying into Texas to help represent children and families, said George Tzamaras, a spokesman for the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

It’s impossible to know how many children have begun deportation proceedings, Tzamaras said. “There have been reports of kids younger than 3 years old and others as old as 17.”

HHS officials said the process is meant to protect the child.

Ashley Tabaddor, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges and a jurist in Los Angeles, said that unaccompanied minor cases are heard on a special docket there. She said the judges who take the cases were trained during the last administration on children’s developmental stages, impulse control and making sure the proceedings are understandable to children.

She said in a statement that the court’s work is vital: “This is not traffic court. A mistake on an asylum case can result in jail, torture or a death sentence,” Tabaddor said. “We are a nation of laws. We value fairness, justice and transparency.”

She said children seeking asylum tend to make their case in a non-adversarial office setting with a hearing officer.

But that isn’t always the case, Prandini said. Lawyers might choose a strategy that requires more time in the courtroom.

READ MORE: 17 states sue Trump administration over family separations

“It’s difficult for adults at times. They go to court and they get nervous before a judge,” Milian said. “Now can you imagine a child having to go before a judge and just explain to them why they’re having to flee their country?”

Toczylowski said her organization is trying to help reunify the families so the children can be tried alongside the parents.

“The kids don’t understand the intricacies that are involved with deportation and immigration court,” she said. “They do understand that they have been separated from their parents, and the primary goal is to get back with people they love.”

Article Source

[sofilla4]

My heart 💔😡 #Repost @undocumedia ・・・ Repost @IvanCejatv: 🙇🏾‍♂️🙇🏽‍♀️💔😠😡 Little kids have to be their own lawyers in immigration courts #FreeTheKids Repost @snaybelle: As the White House faces court orders to reunite families separated at the border, immigrant children as young as 3 are being ordered into court for their own deportation proceedings, according to attorneys in Texas, California and Washington, D.C. . . Requiring unaccompanied minors to go through deportation alone is not a new practice. But in the wake of the Trump administration’s controversial family separation policy, more children – including toddlers – are being affected than in the past. . . The more than 2,000 children probably will need to deal with court proceedings even as they grapple with the trauma of being taken from their parents. “We were representing a 3-year-old in court recently who had been separated from the parents. And the child – in the middle of the hearing – started climbing up on the table,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center in Los Angeles. “It really highlighted the absurdity of what we’re doing with these kids.”' ⚠️⚠️⚠️ @nowthisnews . . . . . . #AbolishIce#WeAreTheMedia #peaceaccelerators#IndependentJournalism #PeoplePlanetPeace #ItsInOurHands #ItsUpToUs#OurRevolution #PoliticalRevolution #WeThePeople#ForThePeopleByThePeople #WeAreThe99Percent#WeAreInThisTogether #PeoplePlanetPeaceView

[born2bfit2]

Are you kidding me, this kid looks like he's 3 years old this is against the law. He's not allowed to see a judge without legal representation ugh!!!! Regrann from @georgelopez - Please rise ( he’s fucking two feet tall , in a civilized society this is Unimaginable @soledadobrien @ivancejatv @brownissues @kamalaharris @votolatino @aclu_nationwide how is this possible and I hate to state the obvious but it’s only Latinos who are being separated from their families #thisisamerica #Repost @rogue_1987 ・・・ USA look at what you are doing??? #Repost @undocumedia with @get_repost ・・・ Repost @IvanCejatv: 🙇🏾‍♂️🙇🏽‍♀️💔😠😡 Little kids have to be their own lawyers in immigration courts #FreeTheKids Repost @snaybelle: As the White House faces court orders to reunite families separated at the border, immigrant children as young as 3 are being ordered into court for their own deportation proceedings, according to attorneys in Texas, California and Washington, D.C. . . Requiring unaccompanied minors to go through deportation alone is not a new practice. But in the wake of the Trump administration’s controversial family separation policy, more children – including toddlers – are being affected than in the past. . . The more than 2,000 children probably will need to deal with court proceedings even as they grapple with the trauma of being taken from their parents. “We were representing a 3-year-old in court recently who had been separated from the parents. And the child – in the middle of the hearing – started climbing up on the table,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center in Los Angeles. “It really highlighted the absurdity of what we’re doing with these kids.”' ⚠️⚠️⚠️ @nowthisnews . . . . . .

[united-news-of-america-blog]

Immigration attorney Lindsay Toczylowski talks with CNN's Poppy Harlow about representing a three-year-old in court for a deportation hearing. http://dlvr.it/QZ2YHh www.newssyndicators.com

[newstfionline]

Attorneys: Children as young as 3 are appearing at deportation hearings alone

The Week, June 28, 2018

Attorneys in California, Texas, and Washington, D.C., say that immigrant children, some as young as three, are being ordered to attend court hearings without their parents for their own deportation proceedings, The Texas Tribune reports.

While this is not a brand new practice for unaccompanied minors, under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” approach to immigration, families entering the U.S. are separated at the border, leaving more kids without their parents when deportation proceedings start. There are more than 2,000 undocumented children who were recently separated from their parents living at different facilities and foster homes across the United States. George Tzamaras, spokesman for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said it’s impossible to know how many kids have attended deportation hearings by themselves. “There have been reports of kids younger than three years old and others as old as 17,” he said.

Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center in Los Angeles, told the Tribune that her organization was “representing a 3-year-old in court recently who had been separated from the parents. And the child--in the middle of the hearing--started climbing up on the table. It really highlighted the absurdity of what we’re doing with these kids.”

Attorneys say that when children receive notices to appear in court, they are also given a list of legal services organizations that could possibly help them. “The parent might be the only one who knows why they fled from the home country, and the child is in a disadvantageous position to defend themselves,” Toczylowski said.

[knowinng]

3-year-old ordered to appear in court

Immigration attorney Lindsay Toczylowski talks with CNN's Poppy Harlow about representing a three-year-old in court for a deportation hearing. from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8204427 https://ift.tt/2Ku9JL0 via IFTTT

[allnews7777]

Immigration attorney Lindsay Toczylowski talks with CNN's Poppy Harlow about representing a three-year-old in court for a deportation hearing. from CNN.com - RSS Channel - App International Edition https://ift.tt/2Ku9JL0