Over 25,000 children are at risk of losing access to immigration legal services across the nation. This includes 800 children in Michigan, who may now have to face the immigration system without a lawyer.
The Trump administration issued a termination of services notice to over 100 nonprofits last week — including the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. This canceled contracted legal funding for minors who crossed the U.S. border alone, citing “the Government’s convenience.” The contract was up for renewal at the end of March.
Ana Devereaux is a senior managing attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. She says many of the center's clients are young teenagers, but some are pre-verbal, as young as 10 months old.
Most of them faced abuse, neglect, and persecution in their countries of origin, and do not speak English as their first language, Devereaux said, so it's “ludicrous” to imagine any child successfully representing themselves in court alone.
“The idea of them being able to make their case, even when they are eligible for something — it’s a farce,” she said. “That’s what we expect will be the case going forward with all of these children. [Without] representation, there really will not be any protections that they can take advantage of.”
Devereaux fears this move by the federal government will lead to expedited and traumatic deportations of migrant children in Michigan.
While she said her team is still providing existing clients with “know your rights” presentations and legal screenings, the remaining funding for these programs could run out as early as this week.
"MIRC will continue to serve the 800 young clients we currently represent in Michigan as best we can, for as long as we can, given the limited resources we have available," said MIRC officials in a press release. "We encourage Michiganders to make a contribution [on our website] so that we are able to continue representation for as many of our vulnerable young clients as possible."
