In the richest country on Earth, four-year-old children now stand alone in immigration courts — without parents, without lawyers, and without even a basic understanding of the language spoken to them. Why? Because somewhere between Mar-a-Lago fundraisers and champagne brunches, someone decided the money set aside to help these kids would be better spent on tax cuts for billionaires.
Earlier this year, the federal government abruptly canceled a vital contract that funded legal representation for unaccompanied migrant children. Overnight, 26,000 children nationwide — some barely old enough to read — lost their access to lawyers. The stated reason? Budget “reallocations” aimed at “reducing unnecessary government spending.” In plain English: they cut legal aid for vulnerable children to bankroll more corporate giveaways and tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.
This is not just bad policy. It’s cruelty with a balance sheet.
Imagine being four years old, placed alone in front of a federal judge who explains — in rapid, complex legalese — that you might be deported to a country you can barely remember, where you could face violence, poverty, or death. No one explains your rights. No one helps you fill out paperwork. No one stands up for you.
The courts aren’t pretending this is normal. Judges are reportedly bewildered, even apologetic, at having to proceed with cases against toddlers. But the bureaucracy grinds forward. It’s not built to care — it’s built to process.
Meanwhile, legal representation cuts directly impact outcomes: without a lawyer, 96% of immigrants are ordered deported; with a lawyer, only 23% are. In other words, deportation isn’t always about whether you have a valid asylum claim. It’s about whether you can afford someone to argue it for you.
And in case the absurdity wasn’t thick enough, advocates point out that cutting legal aid won’t even save money in the long run. It will clog courts, create massive backlogs, and lead to more appeals and more government spending down the line. But that’s a problem for another day. For now, the priority is making sure millionaires can upgrade from a yacht to a slightly larger yacht without worrying about pesky taxes.
New York State is trying to fill the gap with legislation like the Access to Representation Act, which would guarantee legal counsel for immigrants facing deportation. But that’s a local fix to a national disgrace. And while lawmakers haggle over budgets, small children continue to be marched into courtrooms alone, facing life-or-death consequences armed with nothing but the vague hope that someone — anyone — will notice that something here is terribly wrong.
It’s not just a legal crisis. It’s a moral collapse. And it’s happening right now, in the “land of the free.”
