Putting TRAC to Work
  Legal and Scholarly
Yale Human Rights Development Journal
February 18, 2014

Incorporating a "Best Interests of the Child" Approach Into Immigration Law and Procedure
By Bridgette A. Carr, University of Michigan Law School


Another issue for accompanied children is the fact that individuals in removal proceedings are not entitled to a free, court-appointed attorney. See Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) § 292, 8 U.S.C. § 1362 (2006). This means that often the directly affected children will be involved in proceedings in which their parents are representing themselves pro se. This lack of representation increases the possibility that a child's plight will go unnoticed by the decision-maker. From 1994 through 2005, 17% of asylum cases were heard without an attorney representing the applicant. Those cases resulted in significantly more denials than cases with an attorney present (93.4% compared with 64.0%)........[citing TRAC research].


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