Durbin, Butler Urge DHS To Issue A Policy Ensuring Vulnerable Children Seeking Protection Through The Central American Minors Program Access To Counsel

 CHICAGO – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Laphonza Butler (D-CA) today sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging the Department to issue a policy directive ensuring that vulnerable children seeking protection through the Central American Minors program (CAM) have access to counsel during their refugee interviews with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

The Senators wrote, “We applaud the Biden administration for reopening and strengthening the CAM program, however, DHS’s prohibition on access to counsel during CAM interviews undermines children’s ability to meaningfully access protection while limiting the program’s potential to ease pressure and enhance orderliness at the U.S. southern border.”

CAM—an in-country refugee processing program—provides certain children who face danger in northern Central America with a lawful and orderly pathway through which they may seek to reunite with parents or legal guardians who reside and have lawful immigration status in the United States. By helping eliminate the need for impacted children to make a dangerous journey to the U.S. southern border in pursuit of safety, CAM reduces the strain on U.S. border operations. The program also combats labor exploitation by helping ensure that children arrive with lawful status and are reunified with parents.

In February 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order that directed DHS to consider policy changes enabling access to counsel during refugee interviews. Yet more than three years later, the Department continues to bar the presence of attorneys during CAM refugee interviews despite children’s particular vulnerabilities.

“Access to counsel during CAM interviews would strengthen the fairness and efficiency of program adjudications. Attorneys would help foster children’s confidence during what is frequently a frightening experience; ease children’s reservations about sharing traumatic details of events central to their protection claims; enhance understanding of interview protocols; and clarify issues and points of confusion that may arise. In this way, the presence of attorneys would promote adjudicators’ efficient acquisition of information vital to rendering fair decisions under the law; advance clearer interview processes; and help realize the program’s full promise,” the letter continued.

“Permitting children to have an attorney represent them during their interview is a straightforward, practicable measure to ensure a more orderly, secure immigration system. Without further delay, USCIS should issue a policy directive outlining how attorneys may access and fully represent children during their CAM refugee interviews before USCIS. To the extent USCIS already has begun developing a policy directive, please share updates regarding the content and timing for its issuance,” the letter concluded.

Last year, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing entitled “Ensuring the Safety and Well-Being of Unaccompanied Children, Part II.” The hearing builds on the Committee’s hearing on this issue last June, which featured testimony from child welfare and labor experts.

In addition to Durbin and Butler, the letter was signed by Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Peter Welch (D-VT, Chris Coons (D-DE), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Alex Padilla (D-CA). The letter is endorsed by Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Church World Service, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Freedom Network USA, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, International Rescue Committee, International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Justice in Motion, Refugee Council USA, Tahirih Justice Center, The Central American Resource Center of Northern California - CARECEN SF, Women's Refugee Commission, Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights.

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

June 26, 2024

Dear Secretary Mayorkas and Director Jaddou:

We write to urge the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to issue a policy directive ensuring that vulnerable children seeking protection through the Central American Minors program (CAM) have access to counsel—at no expense to the government—during their refugee interviews with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). We applaud the Biden administration for reopening and strengthening the CAM program, however, DHS’s prohibition on access to counsel during CAM interviews undermines children’s ability to meaningfully access protection while limiting the program’s potential to ease pressure and enhance orderliness at the U.S. southern border.

CAM—an in-country refugee processing program—provides certain children who face danger in northern Central America with a lawful and orderly pathway through which they may seek to reunite with parents or legal guardians who reside and have lawful immigration status in the United States. By helping eliminate the need for impacted children to make a dangerous journey to the U.S. southern border in pursuit of safety, CAM reduces the strain on U.S. border operations. The program also combats labor exploitation by helping ensure that children arrive with lawful status and are reunified with parents.

In February 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order that directed DHS to consider policy changes enabling access to counsel during refugee interviews. Yet more than three years later the Department continues to bar the presence of attorneys during CAM refugee interviews despite children’s particular vulnerabilities. Children’s age and developmental stage, communication and comprehension barriers, and discomfort around strangers all can constitute obstacles to navigating the CAM interview process. Many children are unable to understand that they are participating in a refugee interview, much less the legal significance of issues discussed during the interview or the importance of fully articulating a protection claim. These challenges can contribute to adjudications that fail to account for information pertinent to full and fair consideration of refugee status, thereby increasing refugee denial rates.

Access to counsel during CAM interviews would strengthen the fairness and efficiency of program adjudications. Attorneys would help foster children’s confidence during what is frequently a frightening experience; ease children’s reservations about sharing traumatic details of events central to their protection claims; enhance understanding of interview protocols; and clarify issues and points of confusion that may arise. In this way, the presence of attorneys would promote adjudicators’ efficient acquisition of information vital to rendering fair decisions under the law; advance clearer interview processes; and help realize the program’s full promise.

Permitting children to have an attorney represent them during their interview is a straightforward, practicable measure to ensure a more orderly, secure immigration system. Without further delay, USCIS should issue a policy directive outlining how attorneys may access and fully represent children during their CAM refugee interviews before USCIS. To the extent USCIS already has begun developing a policy directive, please share updates regarding the content and timing for its issuance.

We thank you for your past actions to strengthen the CAM program and look forward to your prompt response on this matter.

Sincerely,

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