Trump administration sued over accelerated immigration process for migrant kids

A group of attorneys filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the accelerated immigration process for unaccompanied migrant children, saying the Trump administration’s policies are unlawful.

Under President Donald Trump, unaccompanied migrant children have been increasingly forced to navigate a complicated and accelerated immigration process with dwindling help after the administration ended a long-standing contract for legal services this summer — and as administration officials try to wrap their cases at an unprecedented pace.

“This is not the immigration process that Congress intended for unaccompanied children; it is a deportation assembly line depriving them of their rights,” the lawsuit states. Thursday’s lawsuit was filed by six legal service providers who work with unaccompanied migrant kids.

It focuses on unaccompanied migrant children who are residing with family in the US or are detained, either after recently crossing the US southern border or because their guardians were picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Detained children are held in shelters operated by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is charged with their care.

CNN previously reported that children are contending with a fast-tracked immigration process, including abruptly rescheduled asylum interviews, sometimes with only a 24-hour notice — and increasingly without legal help. Migrant children as young as 2 are also showing up at immigration courts nationwide, many without attorneys, to make their case to stay in the US and avoid deportation.

Like adults, children must also go through immigration proceedings and present evidence to back up their asylum claim, and there’s no requirement for them to have legal representation throughout the process.

According to attorneys, asylum interviews have been abruptly pushed up.

“Since August 1, 2026, Plaintiffs have collectively received more than 600 notices of asylum interviews scheduled to take place in quick succession. Their attorneys are expected to represent children in multiple asylum interviews on the same day, sometimes at the same time, forcing them to forgo preparation and severely limiting their ability to effectively represent their unaccompanied child clients,” the lawsuit states.

“For these children, who risk being sent back to the countries they fled, the stakes could not be higher,” it continues.

The lawsuit calls for a return to the status quo — for example, when children were given at least 21 days notice prior to their asylum interview — and cites a federal law that’s been in place for nearly two decades, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, that’s supposed to provide protections for unaccompanied migrant children.

The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Maryland.

The Trump administration has previously denied claims that cases are being fast-tracked, arguing that officials prioritize timely completion of cases. And in a statement to CNN last month, an HHS spokesperson said, “ORR will continue facilitating the ability of [unaccompanied alien children] in its custody to fully participate in immigration legal proceedings with representation by counsel, including hearings before EOIR immigration judges, who manage their own juvenile case dockets and schedules and make independent decisions on asylum claims under consideration.”

周四，一群律师提起诉讼，质疑特朗普政府加快无人陪伴移民儿童移民程序的做法，称其政策违法。

在唐纳德·特朗普总统的领导下，无人陪伴的移民儿童越来越被迫在复杂且快速的移民程序中艰难前行，而他们所能获得的帮助却越来越少。此前，特朗普政府在今年夏天终止了一项长期的法律服务合同，与此同时，政府官员正试图以前所未有的速度处理他们的案件。

诉讼书指出：“这并非国会为无人陪伴儿童设想的移民程序；这实际上是一条驱逐出境的流水线，剥夺了他们的权利。” 这起诉讼由六家为无人陪伴移民儿童提供法律服务的机构于周四提起。

该项目重点关注居住在美国与家人同住或被拘留的无人陪伴移民儿童，这些儿童可能是近期越过美国南部边境后被拘留，也可能是因为其监护人被美国移民和海关执法局（ICE）逮捕。被拘留的儿童被安置在由美国卫生与公众服务部难民安置办公室运营的收容所中，该办公室负责照料他们。

CNN此前报道称，儿童正面临着快速推进的移民程序，包括突然重新安排的庇护面谈，有时甚至只提前24小时通知——而且越来越多地缺乏法律援助。年仅2岁的移民儿童也出现在全国各地的移民法庭，其中许多人没有律师，试图为自己留在美国、避免被驱逐出境辩护。

与成年人一样，儿童也必须经历移民程序，并提供证据支持其庇护申请，而且他们在整个过程中无需获得法律代表。

律师表示，庇护申请面谈时间已被突然提前。

诉讼称：“自2026年8月1日以来，原告共收到600多份庇护面谈通知，这些面谈安排在短时间内接连进行。他们的律师需要在同一天，有时甚至同时，代表多名儿童参加多场庇护面谈，这迫使他们放弃准备工作，并严重限制了他们有效代表无人陪伴儿童客户的能力。”

“对于这些可能被遣返回他们逃离的国家的孩子们来说，风险再高不过了，”文章继续说道。

该诉讼要求恢复现状——例如，在庇护面谈前至少 21 天通知儿童——并援引了一项已实施近二十年的联邦法律，即 2008 年《人口贩运受害者保护再授权法案》，该法案旨在为无人陪伴的移民儿童提供保护。

该诉讼已提交至美国马里兰州地方法院。

特朗普政府此前否认了有关案件被加速处理的说法，辩称官员们优先考虑的是及时完成案件。上个月，美国卫生与公众服务部（HHS）发言人在给CNN的一份声明中表示：“难民安置办公室（ORR）将继续协助其监护下的[无人陪伴的外国儿童]在律师的代理下充分参与移民法律程序，包括在移民审查执行办公室（EOIR）的移民法官面前参加听证会。这些法官负责管理自己的未成年人案件日程安排，并对正在审理的庇护申请做出独立决定。”