New report: 1,000s of children have been ordered deported under Biden
A new report shows thousands of children have been ordered deported in immigration proceedings under the Biden administration — including some under 5 years old, and others here alone — despite the administration’s promises to step away from Trump-era hardline immigration policies.
The report comes Talia Inlender is the deputy director of UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy and a co-author in the report.
"An immigration judge will order them removed, which has lifelong consequences, that child could be banished from the United States, they may not be able to return, they may be in criminal penalties for that," she said.
The report uses government data from various immigration court proceedings — including the Biden administration's Dedicated Docket, an expedited legal process introduced in 2021 for some asylum seeking families, like those who cross between ports of entry.
It finds that in the first five months of 2022, more than 80,000 immigration cases were brought against children, roughly one third of all cases opened within that timeframe.
Inlender says that data doesn't show how many of those children a lawyer during their proceedings. But roughly half of all families part of the special docket for expedited asylum decisions did not have legal representation, according to 2023 Department of Justice data, and about 44% of unaccompanied children were also unrepresented.
Inlender says children shouldn't be legally held accountable for actions that are out of their control, like how they migrate.
"It's really very simple, the idea is that we don't penalize children for conduct that they cannot control," she said. "And here when we're talking about unrepresented children, children who have no legal representation, who fail to come to court — it's contrary to our basic concept of our legal system that we should impose a legal burden when there's no individual responsibility that we can assign to the child."
The report shows more than 13,000 unaccompanied children were removed in absentia, or because they failed to appear in court, between the 2022 and 2023 fiscal year — making up the bulk of the orders for removal.
Inlender says in many of those cases, children were not able to access court or, without a lawyer, couldn't put together a legal argument.
"There is no other legal context in which children must face the ultimate consequence of a proceeding, in this case, a deportation order, for failing to appear, or for something they have no control over," she said.
The report calls on the Biden administration to guarantee legal representation for all immigrant children and stop the practice of ordering children removed in absentia.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to questions about the dedicated docket or how immigration cases brought against children are handled.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
