Dallas Area Interfaith lobbies White House and Congress to protect Central American juveniles

Honduran migrants waited on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande earlier this year in this file photo. (Associated Press)

It’s a suspense-filled week on Capitol Hill for immigration-watchers, including those of Dallas Area Interfaith.

There’s a target on the 2008 anti-trafficking legislation that now provides immigration court hearings for Central American migrant minors who enter the U.S. without their parents. That can stretch out the juveniles’ time in the U.S.

Some Republicans like Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Democrats like Rep. Henry Cuellar want that law changed so Honduran, Salvadoran and Guatemalan children get fast exits to home countries.

Dallas Area Interfaith wrote a letter to President Barack Obama and members of Congress asking for no changes to law, for help in meeting “the spiritual needs” of the children in detention and shelters and for an end to fast processing in the nation’s already clogged immigration courts. They’ve linked that mission with other affiliates of their faith and social service community in Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico. They’ll discuss it further at Temple Emanu-El in a Thursday news conference, just as Congress prepares for its August recess.

They’re also pushing for legal help for juveniles who’ve been arriving in Texas in increasing numbers since 2009. This fiscal year, about 60,000 unaccompanied minors have been apprehended through mid-July, federal officials have said. Many of them say they’re fleeing crushing poverty and violence to reach relatives already in the U.S.

Juveniles face their final test in the immigration courts as we reported this month here in The Dallas Morning News.

Unaccompanied minors now receive top priority in the courts on fresh orders from the federal government. That means expediting procedures so initial hearings happen quicker — within 21 days of the deportation or removal notice. More juvenile dockets have popped in certain cities such as Dallas, New York and Los Angeles. Last week in Dallas, 18 juveniles weren’t even notified of their hearings, thefederal government acknowledged Friday afternoon. The judge reset cases for mid-August.

Without a lawyer, juveniles face a 90 percent chance of being ordered deported. With an attorney, juveniles have half a chance, according to an analysis by a Syracuse University-based research center.

Deportations aren’t an answer, leaders in the Interfaith group say.

“We’re talking about whether we’re going to stand at the border and tell children who are fleeing a burning building to go back inside,” said Rabbi Asher Knight of Temple Emanu-El.

Catholic Charities of Dallas and the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas have worked quietly for years to assist the juveniles with pro-bono counsel. More recently, the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association andprivate corporate attorneys have started legal trainings.

But the recruits haven’t really reached the 10th floor of the federal courthouse on Commerce Street. In Dallas immigration court Tuesday afternoon, 22 juveniles were scheduled for initial hearings. Only three had an attorney — all sharing the same staff lawyer from the Human Rights Initiative. Three of five no shows were given orders of removal in absentia.

The other fourteen had no attorney. They were given lists of no-cost or low-cost attorneys and were rescheduled.

“Do you want time to find an attorney?” asked Judge Michael Baird of a father and his 10-year-old son named Hector in black suit slacks, vest and violet dress shirt.

“Quiere tiempo para conseguir un abogado? came an interpreter’s quick echo.

Sí, said the dad.

“Hector, you’ve been awfully quiet. Any questions?”

“No, señor juez,” came the boy’s feathery voice. “No, Mr. Judge.”