Arizona immigration court requires unrepresented infant to file asylum application

A one-year-old child appeared in an Arizona immigration court without legal representation and was instructed to file an asylum application before the next hearing or face potential deportation. This incident has sparked significant legal concern regarding the rights of unaccompanied migrant children.

The situation follows the July 31 expiration of a federal contract with the Acacia Center for Justice, which previously distributed funds to nearly 100 legal providers representing over 24,000 children. While the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded new contracts—including $20 million to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) and $158 million to the organization Our Rescue—nonprofit groups claim a vacuum in legal services persists.

Court filings from the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project describe the requirement for an infant to file complex asylum documents alone as ‘facially absurd’. Although a USCRI attorney was present during the hearing, they reportedly did not intervene. The Office of Refugee Resettlement stated that attorneys are present at all locations and are assessing whether children require representation on a case-by-case basis. Nonprofits are now seeking judicial intervention to determine if HHS is complying with court orders regarding legal services for minors.