Apprehension of unaccompanied children on the southwest border by fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30:
2011: 15,949
2012: 24,403
2013: 38,759
*2014: 57,525
*As of June 30
Source: U.S. Border Patrol
Deportation cases filed nationwide for children by fiscal year:
2005: 8,900
2006: 7,906
2007: 7,049
2008: 6,249
2009: 5,726
2010: 7,162
2011: 6,425
2012: 11,411
2013: 21,351
*2014: 19,671
*As of June 30
Source: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse
Deportation cases for children filed or transferred to the U.S. Immigration Court in Atlanta by fiscal year:
2005: 418
2006: 275
2007: 231
2008: 140
2009: 111
2010: 155
2011: 140
2012: 425
2013: 910
*2014: 611
*As of June 30
Source: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse
Outcome of deportation cases for children in immigration courts nationwide and in Atlanta from fiscal years 2005-2014:
Atlanta/Nation
Pending: 1,604/41,641
Ordered deported: 1,054/31,013
Allowed to voluntarily leave the U.S.: 531/11,729
Proceedings terminated: 179/7,700
Prosecutorial discretion granted and cases closed: 23/2,090
Closed for other reasons: 20/4,799
Granted relief from deportation: 5/2,878
*As of June 30
Source: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse
Top 15 immigration courts for the numbers of deportation cases involving children from fiscal 2005 to 2014:
New York: 9,315
Houston: 8,963
Harlingen, Texas: 7,995
Los Angeles: 7,729
Miami: 6,456
Arlington, Va.: 6,100
San Antonio: 4,423
Baltimore: 4,250
San Francisco: 4,168
Chicago: 4,117
Phoenix: 3,615
Newark, N.J.: 3,553
Atlanta: 3,416
Boston: 2,843
Charlotte, N.C.: 2,700
*As of June 30
Source: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse
Top four native countries for children in deportation proceedings in immigration courts nationwide and in Atlanta for fiscal years 2005-2014:
Atlanta/Nationwide
Guatemala: 1,570/29,991
Honduras: 927/28,210
El Salvador: 676/26,568
Mexico: 157/8,610
*As of June 30
Source: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse
Legal representation for children in deportation proceedings in immigration courts nationwide and in Atlanta for fiscal 2005-2014:
Atlanta/Nationwide
Not represented: 2,442/57,751
Represented: 974/44,099
*As of June 30
Source: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse
From the border to Georgia
Many of the tens of thousands of Central American children who are illegally crossing the southwest border are ending up in Georgia. The reasons can be traced to a 2008 law — signed by President George W. Bush — that is meant to protect children from sex trafficking.
The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act prohibits the government from quickly deporting children to countries that don’t border the U.S. After apprehending them, federal immigration authorities issue them notices to appear in immigration court, where they can seek relief from deportation.
The law also requires the authorities to quickly turn these children over to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which houses them in a network of group homes. Further, the law says these children “shall be promptly placed in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interest of the child.” So Health and Human Services seeks to quickly reunite them with relatives living in Georgia and other states. Once the children are reunited with those relatives, their deportation cases are transferred to courts in those states.
Digging deeper
Georgia is among the leading states for the number of immigrants living illegally within its borders, which is why The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has focused its resources on the subject of immigration in recent years. It first reported the surge of children coming over the border from Central America and its impact on Georgia in early June. Find our coverage only at www.MyAJC.com.
Federal immigration courts in Atlanta and across the nation have experienced sharp increases in deportation cases involving children amid an influx of immigrant boys and girls who are illegally crossing the southwest border, a new report shows.
Based on U.S. Justice Department records, the report by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse — a research organization at Syracuse University — sheds more light on the magnitude of the crisis in the Rio Grande Valley and its impact on Georgia.
As required by federal law, immigration authorities are transferring many of the children they are apprehending on the border to the care of relatives in Georgia and other states, where they undergo deportation proceedings in nearby immigration courts such as the one in Atlanta.
In the fiscal year ending in September, 910 of these juvenile cases originated in or were transferred to the downtown Atlanta court, which handles cases involving children living in Georgia and some surrounding states. That is more than twice the total from the year before and more than six times the total from the year before that. As of the end of June of this fiscal year, 611 cases involving children have landed in Atlanta’s court on Spring Street.
Atlanta’s growth follows a national trend. Like the nation, most of Atlanta’s cases involve children coming from three Central American countries: El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
Federal officials say these children are fleeing crushing poverty and gang violence in their homelands. Many are coming across the border without their parents, some with the help of smugglers, nicknamed coyotes. Last week, the White House asked Congress for $3.7 billion in additional funding to help respond to the crisis and expedite deportation proceedings for the children.
Republican critics in Congress say the crisis is the result of the Obama administration weakening the nation’s immigration enforcement. They are balking at the president’s funding request, saying it deals only with the symptoms and not the root of the problem. Some are calling for changes in federal law so Central American children who come here illegally can be more speedily deported. The Obama administration says it wants Congress to grant it “additional authority” so it can “enforce the law more efficiently.”
At issue is a 2008 federal law — signed by President George W. Bush — that is meant to protect children from sex trafficking. It prohibits the government from quickly deporting these children to countries that don’t border the U.S. The law also requires federal immigration authorities to turn these children over to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That agency places them in a network of group homes until they can be reunited with relatives in Georgia and other states.
The children remain with those relatives while they go through deportation proceedings, which can take months or even years to resolve because of court backlogs. As of June 30, there were 375,373 cases pending in the nation’s immigration courts, including 41,832 involving juveniles.
Atlanta’s court is now holding deportation hearings for children two days a month, up from just a half a day last year. On one day in the court in late May, the crowd of children and their parents and attorneys was so big it spilled into the hallway. Many of the children who showed up that day did not have lawyers by their side. So the judge who was hearing their cases referred them to a list of lawyers who could help them at little or no cost, telling them to come back at a later date. Local immigration attorneys say they have been forced to turn some away.
“We are seeing immensely increased numbers — a huge demand for services,” said Jennifer Bensman, the senior program director of immigration legal services for Catholic Charities Atlanta, which is representing about two dozen such cases now. “It’s way too much demand than we can possibly cover.”
Over the past decade, Atlanta’s court has received 3,416 of the nation’s 101,850 deportation cases involving children, according to TRAC. Some of those cases originated in Atlanta’s court while others were transferred there from courts elsewhere. Of those cases in Atlanta, 1,604 are pending. In 1,585 of them, judges ordered the children to be deported or allowed them to voluntarily leave the country. The government terminated or closed 222 other cases and granted relief in five more, allowing the children to remain in the U.S.
The U.S. Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the nation’s immigration courts, declined to comment on TRAC’s report.
In the White House’s funding request is $45.4 million for hiring about 40 additional “immigration judge teams,” including some who would be hired on a temporary basis. The government could not provide a breakdown of where the new judges would be located, but an EOIR official said it’s possible one or more could be assigned to Georgia.
Federal officials have also announced immigration courts in Georgia and across the nation will start moving to the front of the line deportation cases involving children and parents apprehended on the southwest border, hoping to resolve them more quickly.
Dana Leigh Marks, a San Francisco-based immigration judge and president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, raised concerns about speeding up cases involving children, many of whom are traumatized by their journeys and don’t have legal help.
“Most people dealing with children acknowledge that it takes time to develop a rapport and to get their trust to find out the information that you need to know in order to rule on these cases,” she said. “So it is kind of counterintuitive to have these cases go through the system faster. They should be the cases that should go through slower.”
About the Author
