Children Facing Judges Alone

Every year, tens of thousands of unaccompanied children appear in U.S. immigration court. Many are under 10 years old. Most don't have lawyers. They face the same judges, the same legal standards, and the same consequences as adults. The system was not designed for them.

Children in the Immigration System

CBP encountered over 12,049,921 people at the border between FY2020 and FY2026. A significant portion are children — both "unaccompanied alien children" (UACs) who arrive without a parent, and children in family units. All of them eventually face immigration court.

Unaccompanied children are first transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which places them with sponsors — usually relatives already in the U.S. Then they receive a Notice to Appear in immigration court. From that point, they navigate the same system as adults.

No Right to a Lawyer

In the American criminal justice system, every defendant — including children — has the right to a public defender. In immigration court, no such right exists. Children can hire their own lawyers, but cannot be appointed one at government expense.

This means a 5-year-old from Guatemala can be called before a federal judge, asked to articulate a legal basis for asylum, respond to government arguments, and present evidence — all without a lawyer. This isn't hypothetical. It happens regularly.

In a now-famous 2016 exchange, a former EOIR chief judge testified that immigration law is "simple enough for a 3-year-old to understand." The statement was widely ridiculed, but it reflected the system's actual stance: children are treated as respondents, not as children.

The Representation Gap for Kids

Overall, only 26.7% of immigration respondents have lawyers. For unaccompanied children, the rate is somewhat higher thanks to pro bono legal organizations and congressional funding for legal orientation programs — but still far from universal.

The impact of representation is dramatic. Children with lawyers win their cases at 10x the rate of those without. For asylum cases specifically, represented children are granted protection at rates above 70%, while unrepresented children are denied at similar rates.

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status

One pathway designed specifically for children is Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), which provides green cards to abused, neglected, or abandoned children. The process requires a state court finding of dependency, then a USCIS application.

SIJS has a massive backlog. Children often "age out" — turning 21 before their application is processed, losing eligibility. The irony: a program designed to protect children fails because the system is too slow to process their cases before they become adults.

In Absentia Orders Against Children

When someone doesn't appear for their immigration hearing, the judge issues an in absentia removal order. This happens to children too. A child placed with a sponsor in one state may receive a hearing notice for a court in another state. The sponsor may not understand the notice. The child certainly doesn't. The result: deportation ordered against a child who didn't know they had a hearing.

Our data shows 2,162,444 in absentia orders across all cases. While we can't isolate children's in absentia rates from the aggregate data, advocates report it's a persistent problem — particularly for young children whose sponsors move or change contact information.

What Would Change Look Like?

Multiple proposals exist to reform how children are treated in immigration court:

• Universal representation for children — Multiple bills have proposed guaranteed lawyers for all unaccompanied children. Cost estimates: $100-200M/year.
• Child-friendly court procedures — Age-appropriate hearings, trained judges, specialized dockets. Some courts already have juvenile dockets.
• Best interest standard — Currently, immigration judges cannot consider the "best interest of the child" in their decisions. Family courts use this standard universally.
• Automatic continuances — Prohibiting in absentia orders against children without confirmed receipt of hearing notices.