A dire fate likely awaits migrant women and children who crossed the southern United States border together and do not have legal representation. According to the latest Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) analysis released Wednesday, immigration judges ordered deportation for about 98.5 percent of women with children without legal representation even after they had passed their “credible fear” interviews, a preliminary requirement in the screening process for some asylum seekers.
By the end of January 2015, immigration courts closed about 30 percent of the 26,342 cases were flagged for special processing because they involved detained women and children. Out of those cases, TRAC analysis showed that of the 7,265 women with children without legal representation, 98.5 percent were ordered deported and 1.5 percent allowed to stay. Of the remaining women with children who had legal representation, 26.3 percent were allowed to stay. Most women and children arrived from the Latin American countries of Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico.
Less than 30 percent of families had legal representation in court, an issue that authors believe contributed to women with children losing their cases and “almost never prevail[ing] even after they are able to demonstrate ‘credible fear’ of returning to their own country.”
While children from Central America who come alone are entitled to a hearing, those who arrive with a parent face expedited removal, “unless the family first can demonstrate ‘credible fear’ of persecution or torture if returned to their own country.” According to the American Immigration Council, “persons who express fear of returning to their home country or who ask to apply for asylum are afforded a ‘credible fear interview,’ conducted by a USCIS officer. If USCIS finds that the person has a credible fear, USCIS is saying that the individual might qualify for asylum status.”
But passing the threshold determination for credible fear can prove daunting. At the two main family detention centers, Artesia and Karnes, immigration officials reportedly rushed through credible fear interviews, or did not probe the asylum seeker for enough detail, leading to missing critical information that could allow immigrant women to pass the threshold determination for credible fear. The grant rate for credible fear screenings at Artesia, closed since November, hovered around 37.8 percent.
The U.S. government does not provide attorneys to immigrants and those lucky enough to receive legal representation often receive pro-bono care. Some immigrants, especially children, are eligible for relief that would allow them to remain in the United States. But without the assistance of an attorney, it’s often difficult — if not impossible — for them to navigate the immigration process against trained government lawyers.
Some cities like New York City and Charlotte are aggressively seeking out legal representation for this population of immigrants. But even in a place like New York City, TRAC records show that 32.7 percent involving women and children cases had legal representation. In Charlotte, that number fell to 18.3 percent.
A Human Rights Watch report from October 2014 found that some deportees are too scared to leave their homes, partially because of retaliation fears by gangs.
Female migrants are especially susceptible to violence or death when they are deported back to their countries of origin. An increasing number of women are killed in Guatemala, with 759 female deaths in 2013. Rape has become so common an occurrence that a whole generation of Guatemalan men were taught to view rape as a “generalized and systemic practice carried out by State agents as a counterinsurgency strategy” and a “true weapon of terror.” The country also has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the Latin American region.
Some children face gruesome fates after they are returned to their countries. Last August, a morgue director said that more than five children deported back to Honduras had been killed, while 200 minors in his city died from unnatural deaths. Others are forced into gangs.