Migrant children are no-shows at Dallas immigration hearings

[alp227]

Marcos and Crisly, Ana and Blanca, Fabiola and Maria Antonia.

The youths were among 20 from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala who were set to appear in federal immigration court Tuesday for initial deportation hearings. But they weren’t there — 18 of the children whose cases were set to be heard didn’t show up Tuesday for court.

It was an absentee rate that federal Immigration Judge Michael Baird said was “highly unusual,” so high that he reset the hearings for Aug. 11 rather than possibly issuing a deportation order.

Baird said he was concerned that the children may not have received proper notice of the hearings from the government. Attorney Lynn Javier, with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, agreed that it was “prudent” to reset the hearings.

The children are among about 100,000 juveniles who have entered the U.S. without a parent in the last two fiscal years, according to Homeland Security. None of the children set to appear on Tuesday had an attorney, a swelling reality that inspired Dallas Catholic Bishop Kevin Farrell on Monday to appeal to attorneys to step up to provide free services.

full: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20140722-migrant-children-are-no-shows-at-dallas-immigration-hearings.ece

Right wing "constitutionalists" have been using this story to say "SEE? AMNESTY!" while disregarding that even lawbreakers - whether they enter the US without proper documents, get a speeding ticket, or kill another person - need a fair hearing per the 5th & 6th amendments. In reality, the Obama administration has repeatedly made it clear that many of these migrant children won't be eligible for asylum. Yet the common right wing narrative is this crazy "OBAMA GIVING AMNESTY TO BUY FUTURE DEMOCRAT VOTES" theory.

Don't you find is astonishing how right wingers who proclaim to value the Constitution do so as long as "undesirables" don't get Constitutional rights?

[HeiressofBickworth]

1. I'm not surprised at the no-shows

I saw a report (sorry, don't remember where) by a woman journalist who interviewed some of the kids. They were all under the impression (mistaken, of course) that the paper they were given was their "permiso" (permission) to stay in the US. They did not seem to understand that it was an order to appear in court and carried no such permission to stay in the US. It appears to me that somewhere someone is failing to properly inform the kids about the process and what the piece of paper means and more importantly, what it DOESN'T mean. Lacking legal representation, they remain uninformed.

So now what happens? Did the authorities get enough information on them that they can be tracked? If they are in the custody of a parent, should we do anything at all?

Because of their ages, this is a problem that will not be easily resolved. And, like anything else, the nut-wing uses it as a club to beat Pres. Obama. I'm getting real tired of them turning everything from a cloudy day to Russian weapons to an attack on the President. When something becomes so predictable, it becomes boring. And the Repubs bore me silly.