Washington D.C.— U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is pushing to help migrant children to get access to fair legal representation while they are going through immigration proceedings.
Sen. Ossoff is working to pass the Fair Day in Court for Kids Act of 2021 to provide legal representation for migrant children during an immigration proceeding.
“I am leading an effort to ensure that children are treated fairly and humanely with access to legal representation,” Sen. Ossoff said.
In the U.S., migrant children are subjected to multiple hurdles to access an attorney or legal help to navigate the system. Many children, including toddlers, unaccompanied minors, and non-English speakers, are then forced to represent themselves in court during immigration and deportation proceedings.
Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) shelter system received 122,000 unaccompanied migrant children who were taken into custody — a number that shattered records from previous years.
Sen. Ossoff is continuing his work to ensure migrants’ rights are protected.
Earlier this month, the Senator called on the Biden Administration to undertake a full review of the H-2A visa program to ensure immigrant farmworkers under the H-2A visa program are protected from abuses that could result in modern-day slavery.
