In the year 2014 a whopping total of around 68,000 people were detained at the borders, including children from Mexico. Even though these numbers have dropped since, they are still significant enough to cause alarm. More than 7000 children were caught from the countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala in the year 2015. Under U S law provisions children from Mexico are usually sent back.
It has been seen that many of these kids are subsequently released to the custody of a parent or guardian already in the U.S. From these, the state of New York receives the 2nd largest number of such unaccompanied children that are released to the sponsors – only the state of Texas has more unaccompanied children.
But for these children the journey is anything from over. Although they may be with a family member they may still have a court date to meet. A target date of 21 days from initial processing for each child to appear in court has been set by the Obama administration, and most children may or may not have a lawyer. Under the law all immigrant unaccompanied children are entitled to a lawyer, yet the U S administration is not obliged to provide them with such legal representation. Moreover the sheer numbers are exerting an enormous pressure on the system, and the fact that the cases are moving rapidly is making it harder for young people to find a lawyer or attorney.
