Uptown Lawyers See System Stressed by Surge of Immigrant Children

Lawyers face heavy caseloads as courts take on an influx of children coming to New York from Central America.

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by Asthaa Chaturvedi

Most weekday mornings since mid-August, a dozen children and their caretakers gather at the federal courthouse in downtown Manhattan, absorbing a presentation that could make the difference between staying in the United States and being deported.

An attorney explains in Spanish that immigrants can qualify for visas if they have suffered abuse of various kinds or are seeking political asylum. The attorney jokingly compares such scenarios to Spanish telenovelas. The listeners laugh, but the reality is that many waiting in this room labeled “Pro Bono” have endured the very situations the lawyer outlines.

New York City has always had a shortage of immigration lawyers, but with the new “surge dockets” that arose when the Obama administration mandated that unaccompanied children appear in court within three weeks of entering deportation proceedings, the shortage has intensified.

“It’s problematic to think that the system can assess these children’s cases quickly,” said Safe Passage Project founder and executive director, Lenni Benson, pointing out that learning a child’s background and developing trust takes time.

While undocumented children are not entitled to government-appointed lawyers, legal representation can be the difference between being removed from the country or being able to stay with sponsors in New York or elsewhere. Some lawyers working for immigrant service organizations carry caseloads of over 150 children. Organizations like Safe Passage and Catholic Charities have added immigration law training sessions for law students and lawyers doing pro bono work for immigrant children.

“In addition to the juvenile docket, public school programs, foster care projects, every day we’re in immigration court. We’re there with our team,” said Guillermo Stampur, a Harlem resident and an attorney with Safe Passage, which recruits volunteer lawyers to represent immigrant youth. “These days have been long for all of us.”

Guillermo Stampur screens   immigrant children in 26 Federal Plaza. Photo by Asthaa Chaturvedi.

Guillermo Stampur screens immigrant children in 26 Federal Plaza.

Before the surge dockets, attorneys from the Legal Aid Society, Catholic Charities, Safe Passage, The Door and other organizations each screened potential clients at the federal courthouse once a month. Since the federal mandate, each member of a coalition of legal organizations screens children and inform families of their legal rights at least weekly.  Lawyers from these groups say 75 to 80 percent of the children qualify for some form of “relief,” or visa.

Members of the New York City Council and the de Blasio administration, like Public Advocate Letitia James, have visited the courts to observe. To address the insufficient legal support for minors facing immediate proceedings, the council, the Robin Hood Foundation and the New York Community Trust are contributing $1.9 million to eight organizations to either expand their capacity to represent more children or place children with law students and pro bono lawyers.

“It’s a stopper; it’s not a long-term project. It could be, but we’ll see how the first year goes,” said Stampur.

Benson estimates the coalition is dealing with 1,300 cases from Central American countries like Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador in the surge dockets since mid August.

They often face dangerous and desperate situations in their home countries.  “The first kid I intake’d was a 12-year-old girl who was held at gunpoint in her house,” said Christina Romero, a lawyer from Legal Aid’s immigration unit and a resident of Sugar Hill in Harlem.

Romero has worked with Legal Aid since 2005; its immigration unit consists of over 30 attorneys, four working on what the organization calls the Youth Project.

The newcomers’ stories are often disturbing: “Lots of kids are victims are of domestic violence. A lot of the parents are alcoholics. A lot of the alcoholics tend to be violent. The moms have been beaten by the fathers. Parents use belts and whips and ropes,” she said. “One kid I had was tied to a tree. I have a girl who was raped over and over again by her father. And then a lot of kids are forced to abandon school and start working because they’re just too poor.

“If you can think of any type of terrible thing that would happen to a kid, I’ve probably dealt with that,” said Romero, listing  cases where children lost parents, committed suicide or faced violence when they returned to their home countries. “This is really emotional work.”

Benson discussed lawyers’ struggles to cope with clients’ difficult situations. “There certainly have been times when lawyers have to come to me not knowing how to deal with the fears and anxieties,” she said.

Every day a different organization’s attorneys work at the dockets, screening children and their parents or caretakers to assess whether the newcomers are eligible for visas. When Safe Passage does screenings, a lawyer, a New York Law School student and an interpreter talk with each child. Each screening takes an hour.

In the courtroom, the attorneys assist the child in asking for more time to find a lawyer, requests usually granted as long children show up for their court date. A few have already been deported for not appearing.

On a recent Thursday morning, Stampur walked around with a phone trying to reach a boy who hadn’t arrived for his court date. “This does not normally happen. If he doesn’t show up, he’ll be deported,” Stampur said, sounding worried. “At this point his phone isn’t working. We’re going to Facebook.”

Not every child finds a volunteer attorney. “More and more people will pay private counsel,” said Romero. “Especially with the surge, people are scared and they’re willing to pay a lot of money if they can so they don’t come to court alone.

Christina Romero, a Legal Aid lawyer. Photo by Asthaa Chaturvedi.

Legal Aid attorney Christina Romero

“Immigration law is one of those cases where sometimes they’re good,” she said of private attorneys. “Sometimes they’ll get the kid what they promise. Sometimes they don’t.”

With the new funding, Benson said, the immigrant service organizations will decide within weeks which children will be placed with which organization. In the meantime, the proceedings continue with children receiving November and December court dates. Benson said that Safe Passage hopes to hire up to three more lawyers and a part-time social worker.

New York City has also responded to the surge with an interagency task force to notify families that children are required to enter school and can enroll in Child Health Care Plus, a state-funded health insurance plan. Many families don’t realize the services exist or choose not to access them because they fear detention.

Stampur said the 16-year old boy he was searching for on Facebook eventually showed up.

Asked how long the surge dockets will go on, Stampur said, “As long as the surge continues, we’ll be here. It’s indefinite.”

(Feature photo of Dania, 15, and Jessie, 26, sisters from Honduras, leaving federal immigration court by Asthaa Chaturvedi. Other photots by Asthaa Chaturvedi.)

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One comment on “Uptown Lawyers See System Stressed by Surge of Immigrant Children

  1. Your article narrates the situation simply and is soulful. It makes me concerned about these 1300 children for the legal rigmarole they are facing.
    One feels sorry for the harm done to the children in their family environment. The umbrella of security that the United States offers to the unfortunates ought not to be snatched from them.
    Good Luck to all those who need it badly.

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