Proposed DOJ Rule Prevents Children from Having a Fair Opportunity to Be Heard and Leaves Them Vulnerable to Deportation to Danger
On Wednesday, December 23, 2020, the Young Center joined nearly 500 organizations and individuals to submit a public comment opposing a proposed rule by the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review that, if implemented, would jeopardize the safety and well-being of immigrant children by decreasing the ability of children and families to have a fair opportunity to be heard and to seek relief from deportation, as they are permitted to do under U.S. law. Specifically, the proposed rule would significantly restrict immigrants’ ability to file requests with immigration courts to reopen their cases to consider new evidence, reconsider court decisions, and bar the deportation of an immigrant while decisions in their cases are being reviewed by the courts and while applications for relief from deportation are still being considered by other agencies.
The Young Center serves as the federally-appointed best interests guardian ad litem (Child Advocate) for trafficking victims and other vulnerable unaccompanied children in government custody as authorized by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). We are the only organization authorized by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to serve in that capacity. Since 2004, ORR has appointed Young Center Child Advocates for thousands of unaccompanied children in ORR custody, all of whom were referred to ORR according to the TVPRA and many of whom are seeking some form of legal protection in the United States. The Young Center’s role is to advocate for the best interests of children. A child’s best interests are determined by considering the child’s safety, expressed wishes, right to family integrity, liberty, developmental needs, and identity. The proposed regulations are contrary to the best interests of immigrant children.
Families and children seeking protection in the United states have a right to a fair opportunity to tell their stories and seek relief from deportation. The U.S. Supreme Court has stated that “[t]he motion to reopen is an ‘important safeguard’ intended ‘to ensure a proper and lawful disposition’ of immigration proceedings.” Yet, these proposed regulations would significantly undermine immigrant children’s ability to pursue this critical safeguard. In addition, the proposed rule would create substantial barriers to obtaining a “stay of removal” and thereby result in many children with credible claims for protection being unjustly deported from the United States without a fair opportunity to be heard.
For many immigrants, particularly unaccompanied children, having a fair opportunity to be heard and to pursue avenues of relief from deportation can mean the difference between living in safety in the United States or being returned to a country where they may face danger and physical harm, including trafficking and persecution. The U.S. government should ensure that, before it imposes such grave consequences through ordering a child’s deportation, every child in immigration proceedings has a fair opportunity to be heard and the ability to seek critical safeguards such as the reopening of proceedings, reconsideration, and a “stay of removal,” that are often necessary to ensure due process.
As the organization tasked with defending the best interests of vulnerable children in immigration proceedings, we oppose these regulations and call for them to be rescinded in their entirety.