The US government is introducing a program that will allow minor migrants to receive $2,500 for voluntarily returning to their country after approval by an immigration judge. However, human rights activists warn of possible pressure on minors to waive legal guarantees, UNN reports with reference to Bloomberg.
Details
“The initiative will begin with 17-year-olds, who will be offered $2,500 to leave the US after an immigration judge approves their request and they arrive in their country of origin,” a source familiar with the matter said.
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the Office of Refugee Resettlement, said the program is designed to provide options for children brought to the US without their families.
According to officials, “it aims to give unaccompanied minors, many of whom were illegally brought into the country without choice, the opportunity to decide whether to return home.”
They described the initiative as voluntary and said it “will allow children to make an informed decision about their future.”
Lawyers and immigration attorneys warned this week that the program could extend to children as young as 17, possibly even 14. They expressed concern that “the program could pressure minors to withdraw claims for protection, such as asylum, and waive legal safeguards that typically protect children from deportation until they turn 18.”
Wendy Young, president of the legal aid and child advocacy group Kids in Need of Defense, called the proposal “a blatant abuse of power.”
“This operation undermines the laws that guarantee this process for unaccompanied children and contradicts our country’s long-standing commitment to protect the most vulnerable among us – children – from violence, trafficking, abuse, persecution, and other serious dangers. We call on the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to immediately cease its activities and ensure that every child in US custody has access to the rights and protections enshrined in US law,” she said.
Addition
Immigrant children are generally afforded a higher level of protection under US law, including through a decades-old court settlement that limits the government’s ability to detain them. Like adults in immigration cases, children are not guaranteed an attorney to help them navigate the system.
As of August, the US government reported that an average of about 2,000 immigrant children were in the custody of the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement.
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