Programs

Detained Children

Ann Durst prepares for a 7 year-old child's safe
reunion with her parents.

Each year hundreds of unaccompanied children under the age of eighteen attempt to enter the United States without documentation. These children come seeking to be reunited with parents or to find work to help support families in Mexico, Central America, or China. Many of these children reach the Mexican-American border exhausted and sometimes traumatized by their journey. They are arrested by Border Patrol and detained in BCIS facilities in San Diego awaiting removal proceedings in Immigration Court.

Casa Cornelia Law Center provides legal representation for these unaccompanied children and actively seeks to ensure that they are safely reunited with family either in the United States or in their homelands. Casa Cornelia has a commitment to ensuring that every child goes to court represented by an attorney.

Unaccompanied minors who enter the US are at a significant risk of deprivation of their rights due to their youth, inexperience, lack of language facility and presence in the often stressful and coercive environment inherent in Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) detention. Also, many are not aware of the existence of legal assistance.

The BCIS defines an unaccompanied minor as "any person under the age of eighteen whose parents or legal guardians are not present at entry." In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of juveniles in BCIS custody. The BCIS is responsible for appropriate care of all unaccompanied minors in their charge. Once the BCIS takes these minors into custody, they are placed in either secure or non-secure facilities. Non-secure facilities are defined as being without security fences or other constructions typically associated with correctional facilities. There are three facilities in San Diego where unaccompanied minors are detained: Casa San Juan, Southwest Key and Juvenile Hall. All are secure facilities. Facilities in which the BCIS detains unaccompanied minors must meet or exceed state requirements in safety, education, recreation, and nutrition as well as medical and counseling services, pursuant to the Flores agreement.

Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 292 (1993) addresses several issues regarding unaccompanied minors. In the first part of this case, the Supreme Court reviewed BCIS policies regarding detention and release of unaccompanied minors, resulting in the establishment of a nationwide BCIS policy regarding these minors. This policy provides that, among other things, juveniles should be treated with dignity, respect and concern for their vulnerabilities as minors, that juveniles should be placed in the least restrictive setting possible, that whenever possible, juveniles should be released to family members, and that the BCIS may not release a juvenile to a person or facility that it believes may harm, neglect or fail to present the minor to immigration court. The second part of this case was ultimately resolved through settlement. This settlement embodies what is known as the Flores agreement. This agreement sets forth requirements for detention facilities and circumstances of detention for unaccompanied minors.

In Perez-Funez v. INS District Director, 619 F. Supp. 656 (1985), plaintiffs successfully argued that unaccompanied minors are often coerced into choosing voluntary departure instead of pursuing what relief that may be available to them. Accordingly the BCIS is now required to provide a simplified written advisal to the minor of his or her rights.