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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/42834907

“The reason we’re here is because the government of the United States wants you to leave the United States,” Judge Ubaid ul-Haq, presiding from a courtroom on Varick Street, told a group of about a dozen children on a recent morning on Webex.

The parties included a 7-year-old boy, wearing a shirt emblazoned with a pizza cartoon, who spun a toy windmill while the judge spoke. There was an 8-year-old girl and her 4-year-old sister, in a tie-dye shirt, who squeezed a pink plushy toy and stuffed it into her sleeve. None of the children were accompanied by parents or attorneys, only shelter workers who helped them log on to the hearing.

Immigrant advocates and lawyers say an increasing number of migrant children are making immigration court appearances without the assistance of attorneys, which they say will lead to more children getting deported.

“That child will be ordered deported from this country — that could all happen without that child ever speaking with an attorney and given the opportunity to obtain representation,” Shah said. “The cruelty is really apparent to all of us out here in the field.”

holy shit

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[-] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 151 points 3 months ago

Yeah, this is the part where the Nazis were rounding up the gypsies. That's where we are right now.

[-] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 91 points 3 months ago

Jesus Christ, this is awful

[-] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 32 points 3 months ago

This has been going on for many years.

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 40 points 3 months ago

If that's true, let's be glad it's getting attention now.

[-] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 37 points 3 months ago

It was getting attention in 2018 too. John Oliver even did an episode about it. People just don’t care as long as it isn’t them.

[-] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 months ago

I keep caring harder and harder but that just makes me more anxious.

Also, am Canadian so it’s not like I can do anything about it.

[-] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 14 points 3 months ago

It's still awful, jesus

[-] dephyre@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago

That makes it so much worse.

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 months ago

I feel like trump poured gas all over the dumpster fire

[-] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 months ago

Yes, but more specifically, he cancelled the fire department too.

Right in the article it mentions smaller percentages of in represented kids before now, but Trump cancelled the 200 million in funding to cover legal costs.

[-] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 months ago

While allowing any unrepresented kids to be deported is bad, it’s now twice as bad as before.

Kraft said that before the contract was terminated, she saw 30% to 40% of children in a given docket without lawyers. Now, she said, the number has increased to 50% to 60%.

[-] Angry_Autist@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

You know what's worse?

The amount of comments above you that are nothing but jokes and misinformation

[-] cornshark@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

It that really worse though?

[-] Angry_Autist@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

no but it still is pretty terrible

[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 46 points 3 months ago

Jesus Christ, we're fucking monsters.

[-] aramis87@fedia.io 29 points 3 months ago

I'm just going to point out that Trump has declared that the official language of the United States is English, so I'm sure he's going to put in another executive order saying there shouldn't be any translators made available.

[-] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 27 points 3 months ago

Ballsy move kids, but will be a big blow to the lawyering industry if they win.

[-] Angry_Autist@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

and we become more reddit every fucking day...

[-] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 23 points 3 months ago

This isn't oniony. It's just sad.

[-] humanspiral@lemmy.ca 23 points 3 months ago

Judge: I will help you since you have no lawyer.

4 year old girl: No habla Engles

following translated:

Judge: Where were you born?

girl: I don't remember. I was too young.

Judge: If you show me a US birth certificate or SS ID card, I can help you not be deported.

girl: uhhh... what? what is words?

[-] uis@lemm.ee 7 points 3 months ago

SS ID card

This invokes some unpleasant aSSociations.

[-] ulterno@programming.dev 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

If the parents are being deported anyway, why don't they let their children go with them?

If a 4 year old (with her 8 yo sister next to her) is unable to realise and say that they had some papers related to their birth, which were separated from them (probably confiscated by the ICE and disposed off) I'd say, it's better for them to be deported.
Hopefully to a country with lesser brain-rot/poison in the water. Really, someone (country) just come and accept the children already. They need a better place than that.

Even better. Once they are accepted in a more reasonable country, they might have a better chance at reuniting with their parents.
I'd say, this is a good time for action for governments that are looking for more next-generation population.

[-] humanspiral@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 months ago

If the parents are being deported anyway, why don’t they let their children go with them?

Key part missing from article is what happened to their parents. Presumably, if prosecution is honest, the kids were in fact not born here, and so are not citizens by birthright. Cruelty and unfairness as a point, does not make facts relevant. Were parents abducted without opportunity to take their children? If no due process, or even DOJ intervention in cases, then its not the jack booted thug ordered to send a parent to a death camp, that will pause the order to go pick up the kids from school, not that the parents would want kids in the death camp.

Story is horrible. Maybe the answer to what happened to parents would make it seem less horrible on US fascism angle. Maybe the fascism is so intense that no one is told what happened to the parents.

[-] ulterno@programming.dev 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

At this point, I don't think we need to care about where those people were born.

The government has decided to harass the people and if another government can come and say, "We will provide you 'work that pays' and a 'space to live'.", a lot of those people would be willing to go through the temporary strain of going to another country and adjusting.

And if the US govt. is willing to say 'NO' to the offer and torture the people, well, Putin might be shitting too much, but is still a politician and I don't see him letting go of the opportunity to band with UK (and the rest of the world), to go against the US this time.


One holocaust is enough for history. At least wait for the civilisation to (inevitably) forget the previous one, before creating another.

[-] ulterno@programming.dev 1 points 3 months ago

Story is horrible. Maybe the answer to what happened to parents would make it seem less horrible on US fascism angle. Maybe the fascism is so intense that no one is told what happened to the parents.

For now, I am really just going to assume that those were previously caught by ICE, due to the relevance to previous news.

Because, normally (stuff like death) you would have some legalese to get another guardian for the kid, which would then be available for the court proceedings and not have this happening.

The current resolutions as I see (from just the article though), seem to be more like - the children were staying with people, not very committed to keeping them and were initially hoping this to be a temporary measure until the parents "came back" (which never happened).
And now the children are having different sponsors (that read weird). What happens when the govt. goes around picking ppl out of those sponsors?

[-] stembolts@programming.dev 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

If the parents are being deported anyway, why don't they let their children go with them?

It's helpful when someone who is going to say something dumb says, "I didn't read the article and will now assume what it said," in their opening sentence. Thank you internet dumb person, thank you.

There are no guardians, that is the point. The adults that were helping were lawyer groups to help discover if these children were, oh, idk, born here and thus citizens of the country under the US Constitution. Trump de-funded that group. So now a four year old is appointed as their own lawyer. Government Efficiency at its finest!

Imagine (please don't hurt your brain, it's okay if you can't imagine, you are doing your best) you are four, the police pick them up. They ask, "Please share with us your documents to prove your citizenship. No adult help allowed." You'd be in Mexico too, probably smarter than you are now so hey maybe a positive outcome for you.

God damn, what an unempathetic illiterate asshole.

READ you stupid fuck. REAAAD.

[-] boonhet@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

Mate the 4 year old could just hire a lawyer like everyone else does. Why does the government need to help her? She was already born, now she should pull herself up by the bootstraps instead of asking for handouts.

[-] stembolts@programming.dev 2 points 2 months ago

You're right, I didn't think of that. Damn toddlers soaking up social services. I was wrong before, I apologize.

[-] Hupf@feddit.org 22 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

The dystopia isn't even boring anymore.

Actual orphan crushing machine.

[-] pyre@lemmy.world 22 points 3 months ago

they did this in his first term. this is part of why he was elected. racists vote.

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 15 points 3 months ago

It is from the old FBI/NSA Playbook. Put them in "court" but then make sure they have no representation as that would get in the way of the ruling.

[-] Pauce@lemmy.ca 9 points 3 months ago

I feel crazy when I read these kinds of articles over the past few months, because I'll have a flash back to a few years ago where the exact same shit went down. And here they go again, this time cranked to 11. The show Orange is The New Black dedicated a whole subplot in their final season back in 2019 on how ICE was operating and what they were pulling. Immigration raids disguised as police raids, the indefinite detention of nonviolent migrants, inhumane conditions in holding, insufficient medical care/attention, etc.

One scene later in the season depicts the article above exactly, a group of children being put before a judge that they couldn't understand for many reasons; lack of representation, the language barrier, or because the kid is all of 2 years old.

[-] GhostPain@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

RebMasel did a YT podcast on just this topic. It's as horrific as it sounds.

[-] PanArab@lemm.ee 5 points 3 months ago

No right to a lawyer, no right to a jury of their peers

[-] ProvableGecko@lemmy.world 12 points 3 months ago

12 angry... babies?

[-] VasovagalSyncope@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

Human beings in positions of power need to die for the acts that will be committed under this fascist regime. Every person contributing to this happening has a name and an address.

[-] x00z@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago
this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2025
687 points (100.0% liked)

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