A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today ruled that immigrant minors who are in the country illegally are not entitled to attorneys paid by the federal government at their Immigration Court hearings.
The ruling was unanimous, upholding an immigration judge's decision to deny asylum to a minor, identified in documents as C.J.L.G., who claims to have fled Honduras with his mother when he was 13 years old after being threatened by gangs at gunpoint.
In their decision, the judges said they understood that "C.J. will likely be returned to a country in crisis" and sympathized with his personal situation, but that "the law does not support his requested relief."
C.J. and his mother Maria arrived in the United States in June 2014 and were detained four days after entering the country. Authorities released them with notices to appear in Immigration Court.
During the hearings, the mother said she had no money for a lawyer and could not find free legal help. Eventually, she filed an asylum application for her son on her own based on threats from gangs in Honduras.
After several hearings over the course of three years, the immigration judge determined that the minor did not qualify for asylum and was deportable.
C.J. first appealed the case to the Board of Immigration Appeals and then to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Both courts rejected his appeals.
Several non-profit organizations and private attorneys, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), represented C.J. in his appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals. C.J.'s attorneys argued several reasons why the immigration judge's decision was incorrect, including that the immigration judge should have told the child that he could be eligible for special immigrant juvenile status (SIJS) and did not do so.
But the federal appeals court held that the immigration judge had no obligation to inform the juvenile of his "apparent eligibility" for special immigrant juvenile status because at the time of his removal proceedings, C.J. did not have a state court order that might have made him apparently eligible for SIJS.
The ACLU previously tried unsuccessfully to obtain court support for free legal aid for immigrant minors.
In June 2016, the ACLU and several other organizations filed a class action lawsuit in an attempt to obtain government-paid attorneys to represent immigrant minors in Immigration Court. The Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected the claim in September 2016.
It is of utmost importance that any immigrant who is in deportation proceedings make every effort to obtain the assistance of an immigration attorney. C.J. could have applied for SIJS because he and his mother testified in immigration court that C.J.'s father had abandoned them in Honduras.
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