UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN AND THE NEED FOR LEGAL REPRESENTATION IN IMMIGRATION PROCEEDINGS

INTRODUCTION An unaccompanied child is defined as someone who enters the United States under the age of eighteen, without lawful status, and without an accompanying parent or legal guardian.1 Despite the term's implication, many children do not enter the country alone but are either separated from their family members at the border or leftby smugglers or other migrants near the border.2 The number of unaccompanied minors plunged in early 2020 due to border closures and restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic; however, a recent surge has led to a strain on government resources and a backlog of cases in immigration courts.3 Each year, thousands of children travel to the southern border from the Northern Triangle region of Central America. In fiscal year 2021, 47% of children were from Guatemala, 32% were from Honduras, and 13% were from El Salvador.4 Many children are escaping deadly gang violence, poverty, devastating hurricanes, and the pandemic.5 Most others are coming from Mexico, where violence continues to escalate amid the government's war against drug cartels.6 Despite the dangerous journey, children are fleeing to the U.S. border to either be reunited with family members already here or escape dangerous conditions in their home countries.7 Unfortunately, once children arrive at the U.S. border, they continue to face difficult challenges including navigating a complex immigration system to stay in the United States, often by themselves.8 While unaccompanied minors are afforded certain protections and have a statutory right to counsel at their own expense, they are not entitled to any form of government-funded, appointed counsel to assist them.9 Thus, many children are forced to represent themselves in complex immigration proceedings with little or no knowledge of the legal system and limited English skills.10 As Syracuse's TRAC Immigration analysis indicates, "the single most important factor" in determining the outcome of a case is whether the child had an attorney.11 In about 73% of cases where the child had representation, the judge "allowed the child to remain in the United States. "20 It also guaranteed several rights to detained children, including the right to be held in "the least restrictive setting appropriate," the right to be released from government custody without delay to parents, family members, or appropriate guardians, and the right to a certain standard of care in immigration detention such as food, water, and medical assistance.21