The Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh, or JFCS, and six immigrant clients filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and USCIS.
According to The Guardian, JFCS alleges the Trump administration deliberately targets unaccompanied children for rapid deportation to increase removal statistics.
"What a society will tolerate happening to children, they will tolerate happening to anyone," said Dana Gold, JFCS’s chief operating officer.
The suit claims children are being deported despite qualifying for legal protections, including Special Immigrant Juvenile, or SIJ, status or T nonimmigrant status for trafficking survivors.
Since June, JFCS reports immigration judges have ordered child removals rather than granting time to pursue legal pathways, even when SIJ status was already approved.
Hearings are scheduled with minimal notice and compressed into biweekly sessions.
Two plaintiffs include a 17-year-old trafficking survivor from Guatemala, deported while her T-status application was pending, and a 19-year-old Vietnamese asylum seeker deported despite approved SIJ status.
The government ended legal representation contracts for 20,000 unaccompanied children, forcing many to face judges without lawyers.
DHS stated it is "laser-focused on protecting children," adding, "All illegal aliens receive due process."
The Executive Office for Immigration Review did not comment.
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