Detention of Men, Women, and Children & Florence Project

Golden McCarthygmccarthy@firrp.orgFlorence Immigrant & Refugee Rights ProjectChildren’s Program

Adults v. KidsAdults Kids

250 Facilities (more or less) nation wide (Bed quota 34,000)

3,000 beds in Arizona

100 facilities (more or less) nation wide .

1,000 bed in ArizonaIn Arizona: 3 are run by CCA and one is owed by ICE

All are non-profit organization contracted through Office of Refugee Resettlement

Civil proceeding so no rights to attorney under constitution (Except in Franco cases)

More rights developed under the Flores Settlement and codified under Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008

Released: Bond or win legal case Released: Reunification (“sponsor”) or win legal case

2016 proposed budget for DHS: $41.2 billionICE: $5.96 billion

Housing Unit at Eloy Detention Center, Eloy, AZ

Recreation area for people in Solitary Confinement at Pinal County Jail, Florence, AZ

Apprehension & Custody For Kids

Department of Homeland Security

Office of Refugee Resettlement

- Reunification with Sponsor

- LTFC - Return to Home

country

* Kids are placed in removal proceedings.

< 72 hours

- At the border- From the community

Who gets into ORR?

UIC

Children under the age of 18

Without lawful immigration

status

Parent or legal guardian :is not in the US or

in unable or unwilling to provide care and physical custody.

“Unaccompanied Immigrant Child“

Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)• Must Comply with the TVPRA!• Services:• Education, health care, recreation, vocational training, mental

health services, family reunification, case management and legal services.

• Ensures least restrictive placement possible:• Best interest of the child placement determinations. • Release to qualified sponsors and family members determined to be

capable of providing for the child’s physical and mental wellbeing. • Verify identity and relationship• Interview• Background checks• Fingerprints checks of the FBI database-if non parental

• Ensures access to legal representation or counsel for all undocumented, unaccompanied children in custody.

Where are UICs coming from?

FY 2014:• Honduras: 34%• Guatemala: 32%• El Salvador: 29%• Mexico: <2%• All other countries: <3%

Why do they come?

• Violence in their home country (gang and drug wars, extortion, kidnapping)• Forced gang recruitment• Abusive family relationships• Abandonment by family• Extreme poverty and lack of economic opportunity• Rejoining family already in the United States• Victim of trafficking in their home countries of the U.S.

Why do they come?• “My father would get mad at me and beat me all the time.

Sometimes he would beat me with a belt every day. My mother couldn’t really defend me because he would beat her, too.”

-Jose Luis, 12

• “When I was 5 years old, my father tried to kill my mother with a gun. I was sitting in a corner and I watched him pull out a gun and shoot at her. The bullet missed my mother and she began to cry very hard. I will never for get this. When I was 7 years old, my father began to hit me and my siblings. My mother would stand in front of us to try to stop him but he would only hit her too.”

-Gustavo, 17

Rise of Legal and Social Services Needs

More Children in Removal Proceedings: • representing self in court• Accessing free or low-cost legal services• Courts unprepared for children defending their legal cases• Undocumented sponsors: resist accompanying children to court• Language access: need for Spanish and Indigenous Languages

Increased Needs for Social Service:• Schools: barriers to enrollment and transition to US education

system• Trafficking and debt bondage: money owed to smugglers • Working unsafe conditions: chicken factories, day laborers,

farmworkers• Rise of homelessness• Rise of mental illness and substance abuse: result of trauma

Country FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015

El Salvador 1,221 1,910 1,394 3,314 5,990 16,404 9,389

Guatemala 1,115 1,517 1,565 3,835 8,068 17,057 13,589

Honduras 968 1,017 974 2,997 6,747 18,244 5,409

Mexico 16,114 13,724 11,768 13,974 17,240 15,634 11,012Total 19,418 18,168 15,701 24,120 38,045 67,339 39,399

The Role of the Florence Project and other legal service providers

• Provide Universal Representation to ALL UICs in Arizona• UICs are in removal (deportation) proceedings

• When Children are Detained?• Know Your Rights presentations• Screen for relief: SIJS, T-Visa, Asylum, etc. • Refer cases to other nonprofits around the country after the kid

reunified• Direct Legal Representation

• When Children are Released to Sponsors in Arizona?• Know Your Rights to Sponsors and UICs• Screen for relief• Direct Legal Representation

Special Immigrant Juvenile Status(SIJS)

• Dependent on a juvenile court (dependency, delinquency or guardianship) or committed to/placed under custody of an agency/department of a state or individual/entity appointed by a state or juvenile court;

• Reunification with one or both of the juvenile’s parents is not viable due to abuse, neglect, abandonment, or a similar basis found under State law;

• Not in the juvenile’s interest to return to his or her home country; and

• Under 21 and unmarried.

Asylum• Must be a victim of past persecution or have a well-

founded fear of future persecution based on race, religion, political opinion, membership in a particular social group, or nationality

• Persecution must be on account of membership in that PSG

• Must be examined through a “reasonable child” standard• Extra protection under the TVPRA• UACs can file affirmatively before USCIS

• Trained asylum officer• UACs (but not all kids) not subject to one-year filing bar

OJO! When a Kid Discloses…Connect kid to lawyerPossibly qualifies for

Biological mom/dad is out of the picture: abandoned, incarcerated, abusive or Child is in DCS/Child Protective Services/Custody of the state

SIJS

Child is being cared for someone OTHER than biological mom/dad SIJS

Child’s family in home country are being threatened or killed Asylum

Child has been forced/coerced to preform work of any kind T visa

Child committed a juvenile delinquency SIJS

Child was the victim of severe abuse in home country by caretaker and now live with parents in US

Asylum

Child abused by parent in US SIJS or U visa

Child has been victim of a crime U Visa

Child has been in US since 2007 and in school or has degree DACA

ALSO: THIS

• 18 and 21 years old! Don’t let kids lose out on relief!

• Why does Golden get crazy about this stuff???• FY 2012-2014: kids who were in removal proceedings• 72% with attorneys were permitted to remain in US• 88% without attorneys were deported

Florence Project Representation• We are our clients’ attorneys• We are not GALs, we do not to a best interest analysis

• We assume our client, when properly advised, is capable of making decision

• Regardless of their age, we respect our client’s decisions

• We believe it is our responsibility to meet the clients where they are at: change our language, break down the information, use diagrams, pictures, timelines.

Preparing for Detention• Make a Family Plan• Contact numbers and legal documents in safe place • Creating power of attorney or guardianships for relatives to care

for children• Putting away money for bond and commissary account • Firrp.org/resources/prose/parentalrights

• Detained by ICE• Initial phone call, 1 minute• Family needs detainee’s A-number, facility name, and commissary

number (on name tag given by ICE)• https://locator.ice.govIf Detained in AZ: Request to speak with the Florence Project

Questions?