POLITICO has published a jarring one-year “lookback piece” on those border kids seeking refuge in the United States – you recall, the ones making headlines last summer. The report says that: “… one year later, child migrants from Central America are still paying a heavy price for President Barack Obama’s decision last summer to rush them into deportation proceedings without first taking steps to provide legal counsel. New government data this week offer a first, full-year tally for the immigration courts, and the numbers show that among the 13,451 cases completed since July 18, 2014, barely half the children had legal representation.”
Some local governments, including those in San Francisco and New York City, have stepped in to try to fill some of the holes but POLITICO notes that “… Republicans in Congress are refusing to provide money sought by Obama for attorneys. And a bill introduced by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in March to require the Justice Department to appoint counsel remains buried in the House Judiciary Committee. The political stalemate in Washington has driven constitutional appeals to the federal courts, but thus far, these have produced more promises than real relief.
Indeed, says POLITICO, “… after all of the public furor over the border surge last summer, the children seem to have dropped off the political map.”
Read more: Obama plan leaves child migrants adrift
