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ABA’s ProBAR ‘jumped into motion’ to cease…
Immigration Regulation
ABA’s ProBAR ‘jumped into motion’ to cease deportation of unaccompanied youngsters from Guatemala
By Amanda Robert
September 5, 2025, 12:05 pm CDT
A Guatemalan migrant, in white, is embraced by an emotional relative after being deported from america, outdoors La Aurora Worldwide Airport, in Guatemala Metropolis, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Picture/Moises Castillo)
Because the scenario involving unaccompanied Guatemalan youngsters unfolded final week, the ABA’s South Texas Professional Bono Asylum Illustration Mission stepped in. Chief Laura Peña offered this account of occasions:
It was simply earlier than midnight on Saturday when the calls to the ABA’s South Texas Professional Bono Asylum Illustration Mission employees started. Guatemalan youngsters had been being pulled from their beds in shelters throughout the state, rushed onto buses and pushed beneath the duvet of darkness to a small border city airport in Harlingen, Texas. Deep into the Labor Day weekend, the U.S. authorities had launched a brand new effort to expeditiously return immigrant youngsters—alone and terrified—again to Guatemala.
With out hesitation, ProBAR attorneys jumped into motion, dashing to shelters throughout the area and to the airport from which the youngsters had been anticipated to depart. It was a race in opposition to time however our group was prepared. For the subsequent 24 hours, our group labored across the clock to defend the rights of frightened youngsters. We intervened for younger women liable to trafficking, and we stood agency in opposition to a coverage designed to strip youngsters of their rights and procedures to make sure security and due course of.
Due to ProBAR’s advocacy efforts, two of these youngsters at the moment are named plaintiffs in a nationwide lawsuit difficult this coverage—together with our 10-year-old consumer, a motherless youngster who fears being pressured again to hazard in Guatemala. ProBAR’s work resulted in proof that was vital in difficult the federal government’s actions.
ProBAR attorneys discuss extra about these occasions and their work to defend the youngsters’s rights right here:
The ABA mentioned in an announcement Thursday that federal regulation requires that unaccompanied youngsters be positioned in removing proceedings in immigration court docket. The Homeland Safety Act and Trafficking Victims Safety Reauthorization Act acknowledge that unaccompanied youngsters—i.e., youngsters with out authorized standing who arrive at america border with out a father or mother or authorized guardian—face distinctive challenges within the immigration system. All respondents in removing proceedings have a proper to be represented by counsel. Particular protections for unaccompanied youngsters transcend this by requiring the federal government to supply authorized illustration “to the best extent practicable.”
Many of those youngsters affected by the weekend’s occasions had been represented by counsel and had already filed functions for reduction in immigration court docket; these deportation efforts would have subverted due course of to effectuate their fast return to Guatemala.
“The protection of those at-risk youngsters ought to stay the first focus as issues develop and an orderly court-reviewed course of, which is now ongoing, is one of the simplest ways to make sure this,” mentioned ABA President Michelle A. Behnke. “Ensuring youngsters are protected is without doubt one of the most vital roles {that a} lawyer can play.”
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