A chubby-cheeked 7-year-old boy walked into the cold and quiet courtroom. He sat next to his attorney and leaned into the black gooseneck microphone on the table.
“Juez, yo me quiero ir con mi papá,” he said clearly and confidently, then hunched back slowly into his chair as he held a stuffed animal, a smiling lion. “Judge, I want to go with my dad.”
The boy, who only speaks Spanish, sat quietly in his chair, feet dangling. He rested his head on the stuffed lion. El Paso Matters does not identify minors without consent of their parents or guardians.
His attorney, the immigration judge and a government prosecutor moved quickly through the hearing: the boy had been separated from his father, who was detained and deported to South America, and it was in his best interest to voluntarily return and reunite with him. The government did not object and agreed the return should occur within 60 days, at the government’s expense and with safeguards to protect the child. The boy’s attorney asked that his home country not be divulged to help protect his identity.
In just under 10 minutes, the hearing ended. The brown-skinned boy was escorted out by his attorney, shuffling his feet as he walked into a narrow hallway where more than two dozen children sat awaiting their turn before the immigration judge.
“I wanted to have it for the record that (this) is what he wanted, so we asked him to tell the judge himself,” Natasha Rosario, the boy’s attorney and director of Estrella del Paso’s Children’s Program, later told El Paso Matters. “It’s sad because we know they were separated and the child has been waiting here when Dad was already in their country. I know they talk over the phone, but I can’t imagine when they are finally reunited and together.”
Fast-tracking minors through immigration court
It was Friday, June 11. The boy and more than 30 other children were scheduled to appear at the Richard C. White Federal Building in Downtown before Judge Danny Razo – one of more than a dozen immigration judges in El Paso. Estrella del Paso, a local nonprofit that provides free and low-cost immigration legal services, represented six of the minors. The rest appeared without legal representation.
These hearings, where judges can decide if the children should be deported or remain in the country, are being fast-tracked as the Trump administration shifts its immigration enforcement to minors, attorneys from Estrella del Paso and other human rights organizations have said.
“The speed is one of the cruel elements in this process,” said Jacob Wedemeyer, an attorney with Estrella del Paso, which is affiliated with the Catholic Diocese of El Paso. “They’re moving so fast that it’s overwhelming the system. The children aren’t able to find attorneys. The speed is irrational.”
SEE ALSO: Dismissed, then detained: Immigrants face swift deportation after El Paso court hearings
Wedemeyer said immigration courts – which fall under the Department of Justice – are sometimes violating a rule that requires them to schedule hearings at least 10 days after a notice to appear is filed. Additionally, he said, numerous hearings are being moved up by weeks or months, giving attorneys – and the migrant children – very little time to prepare.
Although unaccompanied children have long navigated immigration courts without attorneys, legal experts say the stakes have shifted in recent months.
The Trump administration has repeatedly sought to end or limit federally funded legal services for thousands of children while intensifying efforts to identify and deport unaccompanied minors with pending immigration cases or existing removal orders, Wedemeyer said.
A spokesperson for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which conducts immigration court proceedings under the DOJ, said in a statement that the agency prioritizes timely completion of all cases, including unaccompanied children “and makes scheduling adjustments as needed to ensure cases do not languish.”
“Unnecessary delay hurts both aliens with meritorious claims and the American public who wish to see aliens with non-meritorious claims removed as quickly as possible,” EOIR said, adding that it continues to add new immigration judges and adjust schedules.
The EOIR appointed four new immigration judges in El Paso the past two months to help reduce backlogs, the agency said in a statement, bringing the current total to 14, plus one temporary judge.
Classified as “unaccompanied alien children,” the minors had been apprehended without a lawful parent or guardian in the United States. Some were detained while crossing the border unlawfully, others separated from their parents who had been detained in the country’s interior.
Separated, detained, then deported
As of May, more than 1,800 unaccompanied migrant children were detained in shelters and foster programs under the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services. The vast majority are from Guatemala and Honduras.
More than 800 unaccompanied minors are housed in about 40 shelters throughout Texas; an estimated 120 of those children are in El Paso shelters.
“The cases are overwhelming the El Paso courts because there’s so many kids detained here in the shelters,” Wedemeyer said, adding that the expedited paperwork by federal agencies has been riddled with errors that’s not often favorable or fair to the migrant children.
More than 13,800 minors were deported by ICE from Jan. 20, 2025, through early March of this year, not including voluntary departures, according to data from the Deportation Data Project analyzed by the nonpartisan fact-checking organization Factchequeado. The Deportation Data Project, run by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA, serves as a repository of immigration enforcement statistics.
In a statement, a DOJ spokesperson said reducing the immigration court backlog remains one of the highest priorities for this administration and is “hearing cases fairly, expeditiously, and uniformly, in accordance with the law.”
‘Sí, señor juez’
While details of his case are sparse – immigration court files for minors are generally closed to the public and attorneys could not disclose specifics to protect the child’s identity and safety – the 7-year-old boy came to the United States with his father. The mother’s whereabouts are unclear. His father was arrested in the country’s interior in April and transferred to Camp East Montana, the ICE detention center in far East El Paso. He was deported in late May.
RELATED: ‘Millions of dollars in waste’: Federal report shows failures at ICE Camp East Montana
The boy has been in an El Paso shelter operating under the Office of Refugee Resettlement. He was placed in removal proceedings, but he and his father opted for voluntary removal – with the government now offering $2,500 for those who voluntarily deport.
Rosario said the child was referred to an Estrella del Paso social worker because he was having behavioral issues over the trauma of being separated from his family. He was being medicated to keep him calm and help him sleep, she said.
“He didn’t want to eat. He didn’t want to talk,” Rosario said, adding that he once threw a toy toward a case worker and began to cry. “At one of his previous hearings, he was so highly medicated that he fell asleep and we had a hard time waking him up.”
On what was his final day in court, the boy was asked if he could sign the judge’s orders granting him voluntary removal. He grabbed a pen handed to him by Rosario and wrote his name, the letters clearly legible for the uneven, oversized script of a young boy.
The other minors on Judge Razo’s June 11 morning docket sat nervous, legs shaking, some teary eyed. They wore slacks, dress shirts and ties provided to them by the ORR shelters.
“Sí, señor juez,” most responded when told by Razo through a translator that they should “make greater efforts” to find legal representation. “Yes, your honor.”
The minors are provided a list of attorneys – including those at Estrella del Paso. They’re also provided asylum applications – 12-page legal documents in English. It costs $100 for the initial filing.
On that morning’s docket, Razo granted most minors continuances and scheduled them to return for another hearing in July.
In other cases, Wedemeyer and other attorneys pointed to errors in the documents – incorrect names, wrong nationalities, missing signatures, notices to appear not properly served – as reasons they should be inadmissible.
At least two cases on that docket were terminated by Razo, ending the removal proceedings for now. That doesn’t grant them legal status or protect them from future deportation, however.
One case involved a 17-year-old who was about to turn 18 within a week. His nationality was not disclosed in court.
Wedemeyer argued that the Border Patrol did not properly fill out a fact sheet that includes the detainee’s biographical data and summarizes their apprehension. He also alleged the document fraudulently said the teen refused to sign the paperwork. The prosecutor argued the notice to appear was presented to the teen at a previous hearing, but Wedemeyer said he was already representing the boy at the time and that any notices should have gone through him. The judge granted Wedemeyer’s motion to terminate proceedings, giving the government prosecutor until July 13 to appeal.
Other minors were granted continuances.
In one case, a 15-year-old boy, who Health and Human Services had identified as being a victim of severe trafficking, did not appear in court. Wedemeyer called him “missing,” asking how the ORR could lose him and why the Department of Homeland Security hadn’t been able to find him.
The attorney for the government said the juvenile had “absconded,” or escaped, during a medical appointment in April. He was reported as a fugitive to the El Paso Police Department. Razo overruled Wedemeyer’s motion to terminate the case and granted the government’s request for a continuance.
SEE ALSO: Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump’s proposed limits
Just outside the courtroom, other minors, mostly boys, played with Rubik’s cubes and mini Uno cards and worked on word finds and other puzzle sheets.
Opting for voluntary departures
It was a similar scene on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 23, in Judge Judith Bonilla’s immigration court. Just under a dozen cases were on this docket, including several that had originally been set for August and September but had been moved up the calendar.
On that docket, at least three petitioned for voluntary departure.
Whether ordered deported or granted voluntary departure, the children are returned and
interviewed by consuls of their respective home countries, who provide them travel documents. The consulate offices work with the Department of Homeland Security to ensure the minors are deported safely, often on government flights departing from Biggs Army Airfield or El Paso International Airport.
Some children from Mexico are taken to an international bridge connecting El Paso to Ciudad Juárez and handed over to the Mexican consulate or the Desarroll Integral de la Familia, or DIF, a welfare agency.
If ordered removed, the children have 30 days to file an appeal – which costs about $1,030 to file.
Among those requesting voluntary departure from Judge Bonilla was a petite 17-year-old girl from Guatemala. She wore headphones over her wavy, long black hair to hear a translator.
RELATED: El Paso judge agrees to recusal in migrant child case amid family court handling scrutiny
“Sí,” she responded when asked a line of questions, including if she wanted to return to Guatemala and if she had a family willing and able to receive her. “No,” she said after a short pause when asked if she was afraid of going back home.
Bonilla granted the request.
The girl whimpered slightly and wiped her tears with a tissue. The boys in the courtroom hung their heads.
Bonilla addressed the girl, telling her she had 90 days to depart. “But I wish you the best of luck going forward,” Bonilla said.
Rosario, who keeps in touch with some of her clients and their families, said the hardest part of her job is the unknown.
“That’s another thing that’s difficult and hard for us, not knowing what is happening with them once they are either released or sent back to their home countries,” she said. “We don’t know if they are safe, if they are alive. There are so many, many children that we have worked with, but every child, every case, is special in one way or another.”
UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN IMMIGRATION COURT
An unaccompanied alien child is a minor – younger than age 18 – who has arrived in the United States or at the border without a parent or guardian and without legal status. The designation is also given to children who were separated from their parents or guardians after being detained by federal immigration agents and have no other legal caregiver available in the United States.
While the minors are provided special protections under immigration and anti-trafficking laws, they are subject to removal or deportation. Immigration judges, who work for the Department of Justice, make those decisions.
Those hearings are being fast-tracked as the Trump administration shifts its immigration enforcement to minors while at the same time limiting federally funded legal services for them.
Here’s an overview of how the system works:
Designation and custody
Unaccompanied child designation: Children under age 18 apprehended in the United States without a parent or legal guardian are classified as “unaccompanied alien children” under federal immigration law. Children can also be classified as unaccompanied when separated from a parent who is sent to an immigration detention facility.
Federal custody and placement: Most are transferred to shelters or foster-style facilities overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, rather than being held in adult immigration detention centers.
Release to sponsors: Federal officials seek to place children with vetted sponsors, often relatives or other trusted adults, who are responsible for ensuring the child attends immigration court hearings.
The court process
Master calendar hearing: An immigration judge explains the court process, the child’s rights and the charges they face, and typically grants time for the child to find legal representation. People in immigration court have a right to an attorney if they can find one, but unlike in many criminal proceedings, the government is not obligated to provide an attorney for those who can’t afford to hire one.
Asylum application process: Unaccompanied children can file their initial 12-page asylum applications for a $100 filing fee.
Individual hearing: If the case is not resolved earlier, the child appears before an immigration judge, who reviews evidence and testimony to determine whether the child can remain in the United States.
Legal representation
Legal aid funding targeted: Shortly after taking office, the Trump administration moved to end federally funded legal services for unaccompanied immigrant children facing deportation proceedings. A legal challenge prevented the immediate termination of those services, allowing legal aid providers to continue representing children.
The federal government has renewed funding in three-month increments rather than providing long-term commitments. Advocates and legal service organizations say that makes it difficult to retain staff, plan caseloads and provide consistent representation for children.
Deporting unaccompanied minors
Children may be held in shelters or foster homes while the government secures travel documents and transportation. If the child is still in ORR custody when the removal order becomes executable, ORR coordinates the transfer to ICE for removal.
Foreign consulates frequently play a role. Consular officials may verify the child’s identity and nationality, issue travel documents, and coordinate with authorities in the home country to receive the child. The level of involvement varies by country.
Receiving-country authorities take custody upon arrival. Children are generally transferred to immigration, child welfare, or other designated government officials in their home country. Depending on that country’s laws and procedures, they may then be reunited with parents or relatives, referred to child protection agencies, or placed in temporary government care if no suitable caregiver is immediately available.
For children returned to Mexico, the process is often different. Many are returned through U.S.-Mexico ports of entry or international bridges, where they are turned over to Mexican immigration authorities, who coordinate with child protection agencies and family members when appropriate. Some children are placed with child welfare services or another appropriate agency while determining next steps.
Editor’s note: AI assisted in generating this summary, which was reviewed and approved by our journalists and editors. Our journalists researched, reported and wrote the accompanying story, which was reviewed and edited by our editors.
The post ‘Me quiero ir con mi papá’: Inside El Paso’s fast-tracked immigration court for unaccompanied children appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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