Senators push bill demanding legal aid for immigrant kids

A group of Democratic senators on Thursday presented a bill seeking to guarantee immigrant, mostly Central American children access to legal advice and due process when facing deportation.

News Story (NATIONAL)

Agencia EFE
February 11, 2016
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Tags: Children & Juvenile, Immigration Process


DETAILS

According to figures provided by the bill’s sponsors, headed by Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, approximately 70 percent of families (women and children) and 50 percent of unaccompanied minors being held at U.S. detention centers have no access to legal aid.

In mid-2014 an immigration crisis arose sparked by the arrival of thousands of unaccompanied minors at the U.S. border, most of them from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras and fleeing violence and lack of opportunities in those countries.

In the fourth quarter of last year, a new increase in border crossings by unaccompanied minors was registered and in January President Barack Obama’s administration undertook a series of raids aimed at increasing deportations of Central American migrants.