Judge Sets Hearings for Illegal Alien Minors--4 Years From Now

Seventeen-year-old Cristian stepped through the swinging wooden door separating the crowded waiting area from the judge’s bench, straightening his slightly-too-big dress shirt as he slid behind the defendant's desk. As his lawyer took the seat beside him, Cristian slipped on the court-provided headphones so he could hear the Spanish-speaking translator as his lawyer began to speak. After a few pleasantries, Cristian’s lawyer told Immigration Judge John M. Bryant that his client conceded to the charge of being an undocumented alien in the United States and was subject to potential removal. Cristian wanted to plead for asylum for “protection from torture,” and “declined to state his country of removal at this time,” the lawyer added. Within a minute, Bryant had accepted the plea and scheduled a hearing in which the court will determine if Cristian is eligible to receive asylum. The date was set for June 11, 2018. “Are you available that day?” Bryant jokingly asked the lawyer. “I don’t have my 2018 calendar in front of me, but yes, I believe so,” the lawyer responded. “Okay, good. Have a good school year,” Bryant told Cristian. “I’ll see you in a few years, okay?” The entire ordeal was over in less than five minutes. The revolving door of the U.S. immigration system was in constant motion Tuesday morning in Courtroom 6 of the Arlington Immigration Court, as a steady stream of undocumented alien children piled in to the small space in hopes of being granted permission to stay in the United States. Three cases were ready to plead for asylum, and all received hearing dates set for June, 2018. By that time, all three children -- currently teenagers -- will be well into adulthood. Most of the children had shown up for a “master hearing,” or a first appearance in court, and were not yet required to make an official plea. To help put them at ease, Bryant began the long line of hearings by telling the assembled children that they were “special.” “This is all about you,” he told the children. “You’re so special we have a docket just for you.”...more