New York Times (New York):
By Nikita Stewart
September 22, 2014
The
New York City Council and two philanthropic foundations are combining
forces to provide legal representation and other services to some 1,000
unaccompanied immigrant
children facing possible deportation under a new accelerated court
process.
Advocates
for immigrants fear that the children, often fleeing abuse or gang
violence, will otherwise be denied due process. “Without a lawyer,
you’re four times as likely
to be sent back to your country than if you do have one,” said Eric
Weingartner, a managing director at the Robin Hood Foundation, one of
the two charities contributing grants.
The
Council on Tuesday is to earmark $1 million, officials said; the Robin
Hood Foundation is committing $550,000, and the New York Community
Trust, $360,000.
“It’s a groundbreaking public-private partnership,” said Melissa Mark-Viverito, the City Council speaker.
The
accelerated process at the New York Immigration Court, informally known
as the “surge docket” or “rocket docket,” began in August under a
Justice Department mandate.
The number of youth deportation cases has since swelled to 30 per day
from fewer than 100 per month, overwhelming the legal groups that
provide free screenings and legal representation to immigrant children
in coordination with court officials.
The
speedy deportation hearings are part of the Obama administration’s
efforts to deter the illegal migration of young people from Central
America. The federal goal is
for children to go before an immigration judge within 21 days of being
placed in the deportation process. Children could be deported within a
few months, instead of years.
Ms.
Mark-Viverito, who visited the immigration court last month, said she
was moved to act quickly after the legal-services providers explained
that the children’s most
urgent need was adequate representation.
“It
was just case after case after case, back to back to back,” she said in
an interview, recalling the anxiousness on the faces of the children
she had seen. “It was
just heartbreaking. It’s a foreign environment to them. They don’t know
what’s going on.”
The
$1.9 million will go to a coalition of established service providers,
such as the Door, the Legal Aid Society, Catholic Charities Community
Services and the Safe Passage
Project. Mr. Weingartner said the Robin Hood Foundation would evaluate
the program’s performance after 18 months.
“The timing here was pretty fast,” Mr. Weingartner said.
Seymour
W. James, attorney in chief at the Legal Aid Society, praised the City
Council and the two nonprofits, saying he hoped the initiative would be
“a model for other
jurisdictions.”
He called the flood of children in immigration court a “humanitarian crisis.”
“It’s
really been overwhelming, and our staff has done yeoman’s work to
advise these youngsters,” he said. “The volume is such that we could not
keep it up without additional
resources.”
The
new funding comes after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week that
representatives of several city agencies, including the Department of
Education and the Department
of Health and Mental Hygiene, would be stationed at the court to help
children with enrollment in school and health services.
Councilman
Carlos Menchaca, chairman of the Council’s immigration committee, said
he would hold a hearing on the accelerated deportation proceedings on
Monday so the public
could hear what services the city was providing, as well as how the
legal groups were grappling with the increase in cases. The hearing will
be held with the committee on courts and legal services. “This is the
beginning of a long-term conversation about this
docket,” he said.
Ms.
Mark-Viverito said future appropriations would depend on how the
federal government handles the influx of immigrant children. “We could
not leave the children alone,”
she said.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment