Three former immigration judges have challenged the assertion by a Justice Department official that 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds can represent themselves in court and don't have a right to a lawyer in deportation proceedings, The Washington Post's Jerry Markon reports.
The judges made their argument in a brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which is hearing an appeal on whether immigrant children are entitled to taxpayer-funded attorneys. The judges wrote in their brief "'children are simply incapable of representing themselves in immigration proceedings. Absent effective representation for a child, it is impossible for anyone in an immigration court — including the Immigration Judge — to investigate and develop the child’s case to a degree that would permit the fair adjudication that due process requires,"' Markon reports.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups are trying to get the government to provide appointed counsel to every indigent child in immigration court proceedings, but the Justice Department is opposing their lawsuit.
Jack H. Weil, an assistant chief immigration judge in the Justice Department office that sets and oversees policies for the nation’s 58 immigration courts, was offered as an expert witness in the lawsuit by the Justice Department. According to the Post, Weil said in a deposition in the lawsuit that "'I’ve taught immigration law literally to 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of patience. They get it. It’s not the most efficient, but it can be done.”'
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