Supervisors vote to expand legal aid to unaccompanied immigrant children

San Diegans donated items for asylum seekers Photo by Chris Stone Times of San Diego The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted - Tuesday to expand the county s Immigrant Legal Defense Project to include unaccompanied immigrant children The vote broadens the county operation that began in to provide legal representation for migrant children appearing in immigration court A fair day in court is impossible without a lawyer Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer disclosed in a report Expecting a child to deal with immigration court in a language they don t speak against a federal prosecutor is not just unrealistic it s unjust A report from Lawson-Remer s office noted that federal funding supporting legal representation for unaccompanied migrant children is set to expire at the end of the month More than migrant children are in San Diego County and her office revealed in a comment Without this local expansion those children could be forced to represent themselves alone in court starting Oct With federal protections ending September hundreds of kids could be forced to face deportation hearings without a lawyer Currently San Diego disclosed not here We expanded our Immigrant Legal Defense Effort so no child in our public stands before a judge alone pic twitter com gJeQeEUvkp Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer SupLawsonRemer September Before Tuesday s vote Supervisor Jim Desmond commented that although he didn t promotion the campaign in general these are kids and they should not have to suffer alone or go through these proceedings alone Supervisor Joel Anderson cast the lone no vote Anderson reported in a message to City News Organization on Tuesday evening that out of all of California s counties we are the only ones proposing this because those counties understand it s a federal issue and I agree with them The Supreme Court s up-to-date decision allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to resume large-scale raids in Los Angeles could place more people into immigration proceedings a evolution that highlights the promising need for expanded local legal defense programs City News System contributed to this article