Minors’ hearings in the midst of the health crisis

It is well known that the arrival of the Coronavirus caused many temporary changes in the immigration policies of the US.

Nowadays, most of the processes are done virtually and we must wait until the offices of the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) reopen to continue with the pending hearings and face-to-face commitments.

However, there are some processes that continued their normal course despite the pandemic, for instance, deportations and minors’ immigration cases.

Due to the fact that the borders are temporarily closed to prevent a massive spread of COVID-19, 90% of immigrants currently arriving at the borders are deported almost immediately to Central American countries or their own countries, depending on each specific case.

In addition to express deportations, children in the custody of the US government continue to have appointments with local judges for the resolution of their immigration cases amid the global pandemic.

If you need more information about deportation cases, you can click here.

Why are there immigrant children alone is the US?

The US laws explicitly state that a minor cannot be detained for more than 72 hours inside the country.

Therefore, there are several scenarios in which minors must remain in the custody of the current government until they receive a response to their immigration requests.

Let’s look at the main scenarios:

1. Immigrant families, in their desperation to protect their children and build a better future for them, often send minors alone to the borders for the US government and border forces to take care of them.
   There is a myth among immigrant communities that the government is more likely to grant legal entry and residence to minors than to immigrant adults, however, this does not apply with current government policies.
   Children who reach the borders normally want to apply for asylum or refuge in the US. Therefore, they must wait until their immigration case is reviewed by USCIS, like everyone else.
2. When entire families arrive at the borders, adults are taken to immigration detention centers or transit centers of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE). They remain there until their case is resolved.
   However, children cannot be detained in these centers and are separated from their families.

In any of these scenarios, minors are taken to juvenile detention centers while waiting for an audience. They are in the custody of the US government during that period of time.

If you need more information about family immigration cases, you can click here.

How does the process currently work for minors?

Everyone believed that juvenile hearings would be suspended as the COVID-19 contagion peak decreased in the US.

However, children are having their audiences regularly in the midst of the pandemic.

They have appointments with the judge by video call and after analyzing their case, the judge decides if they have permission to enter and legally reside in the country or if they should be deported.

This is a giant concern for thousands of immigrant rights advocates who claim that minors should not, under any circumstances, be deported alone.

They state that the primary reason minors arrive in the US is precisely to flee the danger of their homelands. By deporting them alone, they are sending them to the same risk that they escaped in the first instance.

On top of that, children may not always have the company of a lawyer to represent them correctly in front of the judge. So they face the entire immigration process alone and have no defenses to explain their cases.

It is also important to remember that most of these minors are Latino and their mother tongue is Spanish, therefore, in many cases there is an interpreter between the judge and the minor, which makes communication more difficult and promotes deportation even more.

How can you avoid this situation?

The best solution is to protect our families and even more now that we are in the midst of a pandemic that threatens public health.

It is better to look for different alternatives so that children can find a better future in the US.

It is the right time to organize any immigration case in the best way and ensure legal residence in North America.

If you have any questions about an immigration issue or relating to a case you may have currently in progress, then please don’t hesitate to contact us for a FREE Phone Consultation with one of our expert immigration attorneys.

Simply call Motion Law today at: (202) 918-1799.