GENEVA - UN experts* today expressed concern at the impact of terminating federal funding for legal services for unaccompanied children in immigration proceedings in the United States of America.
"Denying children their rights to legal representation and forcing them to navigate complex immigration proceedings without legal counsel is a serious violation of the rights of children," the experts said.
Under the 2008 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is responsible for the care and custody of unaccompanied children. The law requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to protect children from mistreatment, exploitation and trafficking in persons. The TVPRA guarantees that unaccompanied children in federal custody have access to legal counsel and should not be subjected to expedited removal.
On 18 February 2025, the U.S. Department of the Interior ordered nonprofit legal service providers to halt work and ended funding for attorneys representing unaccompanied children, effectively suspending the Unaccompanied Children Program. Legal actions have been brought before U.S. courts, challenging these developments, highlighting the risks for the protection of children's rights. However, many of the 26,000 affected children lost legal counsel and remain at risk of forced removal despite being eligible for relief. Reports indicate children are being held in windowless cells, denied adequate medical care and separated from parents or caregivers for long periods. Between January and August 2025, average custody time rose from about one month to six months, while releases to family caregivers dropped from approximately 95 per cent to 45 per cent.
"There have been consistent accounts of unlawful deportations of unaccompanied children, in breach of the obligation of non-refoulement, including for child victims of trafficking, and children at risk of trafficking in persons," the experts said. Children have been reportedly pressured to either accept a cash payment of $2,500 to self-deport, relinquishing protections under the TVPRA, or face indefinite detention and transfer to ICE custody upon turning eighteen.
"Child-sensitive justice procedures should be guaranteed in all immigration and asylum proceedings affecting children," the experts said.
They stressed that children should have access to administrative and judicial remedies against decisions affecting their own situation or that of their parents or caregivers, and measures should be taken to avoid undue procedural delays that could negatively affect children's rights.
"Expedited proceedings should only be pursued when they are consistent with the child's best interests and without restricting any due process guarantees," the experts said.
The UN experts are in contact with the U.S. Government on these issues.
