NEW YORK — In a hallway on the 14th floor of a hulking federal building in lower Manhattan, a teenager with gelled hair checks his appearance repeatedly on his smart phone. Two Hispanic women sit in an adjacent waiting room, talking in low voices, a sleeping child between them. His stroller is parked nearby, piled high with two backpacks, an aqua-colored windbreaker, and a Winnie-the-Pooh doll.
A young woman in jeans shyly approaches a volunteer who asks, “Tienes un abogado?” (Do you have a lawyer?) Clutching a sheaf of documents, the teen shakes her head no.
RELATED: As immigration actions remain in ‘legal limbo,’ a community waits
Every weekday, scenes like this play out in New York’s “priority dockets,” the immigration courts that handle cases of unaccompanied children who arrived at the U.S./Mexico border last summer. The priority dockets (also known as “surge dockets”) were announced in July, and began processing unaccompanied children in August. Since then, New York social service providers and volunteer lawyers have worked to ensure that the needs of these unaccompanied children are met.
The Obama administration’s Department of Justice created the priority dockets as part of a broader strategy of deterrence. The administration’s hope is that, by speeding up the resolution of cases and processing quicker removals, word will spread throughout Central America that making the journey north is not worth it.
In 2014, about 68,000 unaccompanied children were detained at the border. While these numbers have since dropped, they are still significant; U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that 7,771 unaccompanied children from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have been apprehended in FY 2015 to date.
Most of these kids are eventually released to the custody of a parent or guardian already in the U.S. New York receives the second-largest number of these unaccompanied children released to sponsors (5,955 in FY 2014); only Texas has more.
But for these kids the journey is far from over. While they may be with a family member, they still have a court date. The Obama administration has set a target date of 21 days from initial processing for each child to appear in court, and they may or may not have a lawyer. By law, all unaccompanied immigrant children are entitled to legal representation — yet the U.S. government is not obligated to provide them with such representation.
RELATED: US immigration officers arrest 2,059 criminals in sweep
Wendy Young, president of Kids In Need Of Defense says that many children face a daunting task, navigating the immigration court system on their own. “Most of these kids are absolutely not getting the legal representation that they need,” she notes. “The sheer numbers is putting pressure on the system, and the fact that cases are moving rapidly makes it harder for young people to find an attorney.”
Young stated that unless the U.S. immigration system can ensure just outcomes for unaccompanied children, “we run the risk of returning them back to the same dangers that they fled.”
Nationally, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, 32% of unaccompanied immigrant children were represented by counsel. In New York, the figure is higher, with 43% of unaccompanied children accessing legal representation.
Having legal representation makes a difference in whether a child is allowed to remain in the U.S. Syracuse University found that almost three-quarters of represented children were allowed by the court to remain in the U.S., whereas only 15% of unrepresented children had a similar outcome.
Cases in the priority docket are heard separately from other immigration cases, and the children range from infants up to age 18. As an alternative to removal, the types of relief that unaccompanied children may be eligible for include asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and visas for victims of trafficking and crime.
New York attorneys say that it is not always easy to determine whether children qualify for deportation relief. “These kids have been through a lot,” said Jennifer Durkin, a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and a longtime volunteer in the children’s docket. “They have come over the border, they have been in detention, and they have been through traumatic situations on their way here. So by the time they get to us, they have been through the wringer.” She said that it is a challenge, for instance, to get a child to open up about possible domestic or sexual abuse. “We are, in effect, asking them to trust a total stranger with their story.”
In New York, the priority dockets are structured so that children are not intimidated by the proceedings. Judges typically do not wear robes, and they address children by their first names. They may allow them to bring a toy or stuffed animal into the courtroom. To help put children at ease, some judges like to ask children about soccer or baseball.
Immigration court, however, is an adversarial proceeding. Judges adjudicating children’s cases walk a fine line between ensuring that the children before them understand the gravity of their situation, and not frightening them. The fact that the parents involved may be undocumented or non-English speakers creates the potential for more confusion. Some parents who receive a notice to return for another court date mistakenly believe that they are receiving “papeles” (papers), meaning that their child has won the right to stay in the country.
RELATED: Pastor deported over long ago DUI conviction
Obtaining legal representation is only one hurdle faced by New York’s unaccompanied immigrant children. “We are dealing with a very vulnerable population, one without a voice,” said JoJo Annobil, Attorney-in-Charge of the Immigration Law Unit at the Legal Aid Society. “They come in and join parents who are also vulnerable, so you have both children and adults who are afraid. You have so many variables here, but we try and work through it.”
“Dealing with children is not the same as dealing with adults, because children have a lot of emotional issues,” said Annobil. “They have experienced trauma. Plus, they have not just legal issues but also social, mental health, and educational needs.” He notes that many unaccompanied children are rejoining parents or other family members whom they have not seen in years, which creates additional stress in their home lives.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com.
Raul A. Reyes