Trump Still Trying to Deport Migrant Children

[Judi Lynn]

Another 28 are set to be deported this weekend, after spending months in detention.

BY MARCIA BROWN NOVEMBER 20, 2020

Twenty-eight migrant children from 23 separate families are set to be deported this weekend. The kids, ages 2 through 18, hail from Guatemala, Haiti, Chile, Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Peru. They came to the U.S. seeking refuge, but have been effectively barred by the Trump administration from making their case for asylum. Advocates say that they have been “arbitrarily placed” in expedited removal proceedings, instead of accessing the normal immigration and asylum processes.

The continued harsh deportation tactics show that Trump and his top immigration aides are committed to carrying out their aggressive agenda until their last day in power. Just a few weeks ago, the government deported dozens of Cameroonian asylum seekers after allegedly forcing them to sign their own deportation papers.

Three of the children spoke to journalists on a Zoom call Wednesday, making their case for federal intervention to stop their imminent deportation. The first migrant who spoke, a 15-year-old detained for more than 400 days, said that when she arrived, officers told her she had no right to asylum because she had not first applied in Mexico. “When Border Patrol detained us at the border, they said, ‘Throw away our garbage.’ That’s what they called our belongings, garbage,” she recalled through a translator. “They said we only have the right to go back to Mexico or to go back to our country.”

Despite not knowing the process for seeking asylum in the U.S., which includes a “credible fear” interview where an asylum seeker shows they fear death or persecution in their country of origin, the girl and her family underwent questioning by “unqualified CBP officers” in hostile circumstances within 48 hours of arriving, advocates said. They were also denied a right to counsel prior to their interview.

More:
https://prospect.org/justice/trump-still-trying-to-deport-migrant-children/

[Solly Mack]

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