Trump slashes legal aid for migrant kids separated from their parents

[pnwmom]

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a3a798/trump-has-quietly-cut-legal-aid-for-migrant-kids-separated-from-parents

When the Trump administration announced this month it would criminally prosecute everyone who crossed the border illegally, which meant jailing immigrant parents and separating them from their children, it effectively manufactured a whole new group of unaccompanied minors who now must navigate the complicated US immigration system by themselves. In less than two weeks, 658 kids were divided from their mothers and fathers—and the policy is still ramping up.

Meanwhile, the government has just quietly shut off a legal lifeline for this very population, putting them at an even higher risk of deportation. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, a federal program that for over a decade has funded organizations representing unaccompanied minors in immigration court while those children live with adult relatives or guardians, told the groups to stop taking new cases just days after the family separation policy began, multiple sources from nonprofit groups funded by ORR told me.

“The government is creating unaccompanied kids, then releasing them to someone other than parents, and then further restricting their ability to access counsel,” said Manoj Govindaiah, director of family detention services for Texas’s Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), which has represented kids through the ORR funds. “So they’re almost ensuring people cannot successfully navigate the immigration court process.”

RAICES, which typically represents about 300 unaccompanied minors a year in the Dallas-Fort Worth area thanks to ORR funding, had just screened a new round of applicants when they received the announcement earlier this month to accept no further cases, staff attorney Jennifer de Haro told me.

SNIP

[gtar100]

1. That's evil at work.

Wheel keeps on turning, trumpians.

[Demovictory9]

2. of course he did. this is to be expected of Trump.

[dhill926]

3. pure evil....

but it's the dem's fault, right? Asshole....

[duforsure]

4. Signs of things to come

Trump went on tv then admitted how bad this is to do to children , then cowardly claimed Democrats were to blame , for their policy he backed to use to intentionally hurt these children with. What kind of monster is this country watching before our eyes destroy decency, destroy compassion , destroy the truth and intentionally hurt little children, by claiming others have done what he knows he's doing. This I'm afraid is the start of how cruel and brutal and dishonest , and how morally and ethically corrupt this illegitimate president can really be. He knows what he's doing to them , and admitted it trying to frame it as a Democrat law, when they came out twice, Kelly and then Sessions, both saying they were going to start their policy, yet trump still lied like a dog again to the American people. This will be a stain n trump he'll never be able to lie away , and deny, and everyone knows this. It takes a real low life individual to be able to intentionally hurt small children like this, and hopefully many will realize these people are nothing but corrupt criminals and thugs using their power to do this to the weakest for his own benefit. Nov. can't get here quick enough. I'm boycotting any conservative business, and stopping all spending until he's gone. Also ordering goods from Canadians, and from Mexico for awhile when I need them when I can't find a progressive business. Also no NFL products and got rid on what I had, and no more NFL channel or games.

[CrispyQ]

5. He is a cruel man.

I am struggling with people I know who voted for him & even more those that still support him. I was stunned to find out that a cousin who was like a brother to me when I was a kid is a Trump supporter. It's been three days & I still feel like I was just punched in the gut.

[jberryhill]

6. It's unfortunate that Avenatti doesn't know there are already organizations he could work with

Instead, he’s on Twitter asking if anyone knows any of them.