Speedy Removals Raise Due Process Concerns

Today, President Obama sent a letter to congressional leadership proposing a new response to the influx of children from Central America, including a request for "authority to exercise discretion in processing the return and removal of unaccompanied minor children from ...Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador."

Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, had this comment:

"The President is mishandling a humanitarian crisis by proposing an inadequate speedy removal process that only further jeopardizes vulnerable children fleeing violence and persecution in Central America. The U.S. has domestic and international legal obligations to asylum-seeking children, including access to an attorney. The procedures proposed for these children in crisis lack fundamental due process and deny fair treatment. It is imperative that these children receive a fair process to ensure that they are not being returned to life-threatening situations."