Wilfredo, a 10-year-old child from Venezuela, appeared in immigration court on his own two weeks ago, forced to fight his deportation to Ecuador while his mother remained imprisoned in an ICE facility. Like thousands of children in removal proceedings, Wilfredo does not have an attorney.
“I was afraid because it was my first time ever going to a court,” he told Univision.
The Trump administration manufactured a new wave of chaos for children in immigration proceedings in February 2025 by ordering nonprofit legal service providers to halt work that was previously funded under federal contracts. This move had the effect of suspending the Unaccompanied Children Program, a program that provided legal representation to over 26,000 children in US immigration proceedings.
In January, three independent United Nations experts expressed alarm at the administration’s move and asserted: “Denying children their rights to legal representation and forcing them to navigate complex immigration proceedings without legal counsel is a serious violation of the rights of children.”
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiated deportation proceedings against Wilfredo, who is from Venezuela, on March 25, 2026. Wilfredo and his mother had a pending asylum application and had permission to live in the United States pending a decision on their asylum applications.
Without legal representation, children are left to face complex, high-stakes immigration proceedings alone and are substantially more likely to be ordered deported. The consequences of deportation for a child can be devastating. This risk is particularly salient when DHS attempts to expel children to third countries without their parents and where they have no family or guardians.
The United States should reverse its February 2025 order to help ensure due process for unaccompanied migrant children in removal proceedings.
