Reuters (California)
By Alex Dobuzinskis
September 27, 2014
California
will spend $3 million to provide legal representation for unaccompanied
immigrant children from Central America who have arrived in the state,
under a bill
signed into law on Saturday by Governor Jerry Brown.
With
the measure, California becomes the only U.S. state along the Mexican
border to provide special funds for the legal representation in federal
immigration court of
children from an influx of unaccompanied, Central American minors who
began crossing the border last year.
Under
the law, money will be given to nonprofit organizations to provide the
legal services. Last month, the bill passed the state Assembly by a vote
of 56-21 and then
the state Senate by 27-8. Both chambers are controlled by Democrats.
When
the bill was introduced, Brown, a Democrat, said helping the
unaccompanied minors navigate immigration courts was "the decent thing
to do" and consistent with the
"progressive spirit of California."
A
yearlong surge has brought about 63,000 unaccompanied children to the
southwestern U.S. border, leaving President Barack Obama and his
administration grappling for ways
to handle the influx and stem the flow of children and families trying
to get into the country. Several thousand of the children were sent to
California.
The
number of unaccompanied minors crossing into the country dropped over
the past summer, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said this
month.
Unlike
child immigrants from Mexico, who can be swiftly sent back to their
country, U.S. law requires unaccompanied minors from Central America to
have their cases heard
by an immigration judge.
After
their release from detention, the Central American children can be
placed with a relative or sponsor and are instructed to go through
immigration proceedings, during
which they face a possible deportation order.
The
U.S. Justice Department and the group that administers the AmeriCorps
national service program awarded $1.8 million in grants this month to
enroll about 100 lawyers
and paralegals to provide legal services to unaccompanied minors in
immigration proceedings.
But
groups including the American Civil Liberties Union are pursuing a
lawsuit filed in July that accuses the federal government of not
providing legal representation
to the minors. The groups have argued in legal papers that the federal
government's plan to underwrite the cost of representing some minors is
too limited.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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