Video Immigration Hearings Deny Children’s Right to Fair Proceedings

“I was appointed as Child Advocate for a child with developmental delays—he was 16 with the developmental capacity of a 9-year-old. Even though an independent psychologist found that the child had limited capacity to understand his immigration proceedings, the child was scheduled for a VTC hearing. Doing a hearing by VTC would have compounded the child’s confusion and heightened his vulnerability. We helped to ensure the VTC did not happen in his case.”
—Young Center Child Advocate

Children face many obstacles to a fair day in immigration court. They carry the burden to show that they qualify for legal protection. They are often unrepresented and have to face a government attorney who is arguing against them. Only the most vulnerable children are appointed a Child Advocate to fight for their best interests.

On top of all these obstacles, the government now intends to force children into hearings that take place on a TV screen using video-teleconferences (“VTCs”). In these video hearings, the child will see the judge on a TV screen and won’t have any chance to be in the same room as the judge evaluating their claim. Their attorney or Child Advocate must choose sitting with the child while advocating with the judge over a screen, or traveling to the judge and leaving the child alone. At the border, children and parents trapped in Mexico under the Remain in Mexico program are forced to attend video hearings in the “tent courts.” These hearings rob everyone of due process, and they rob children of the chance to be seen as children.

Click here to read our report about how video hearings are used to deny children a fair hearing.