Testimony before the NYS Assembly Social Services and Children and Families Committees discussing importance of New York State providing funding to support legal representation of those unaccompanied minors who have fled their Central American countries and entered the United States, and who are currently present in the State of New York

SUMMARY

The Committee on Immigration and Nationality Law testified at a state legislative hearing to urge that the state fund legal representation for those unaccompanied minors who have fled their Central American countries and entered the United States, and who are currently present in the State of New York. The Committee explained that while deporting these children can have grave consequences and that the children are particularly unable to cope with court proceedings without counsel, nearly half of children in removal proceedings are unrepresented. Many of these children have a valid claim under current law to remain in the U.S. However, the likelihood of winning protection is much lower for children without lawyers. According to the Committee, the lack of representation “challenges the very notion of due process.”