WASHINGTON, August 14 (RIA Novosti) - The deportation of thousands of immigrant minors from Central America may become a shameful episode in American history, violating US refugee statutes and international obligations, immigration law experts Hiroshi Motomura and Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia told RIA Novosti Thursday.
“I really fear that this is an episode that this country will look back upon with great shame in the not too distant future,” said Motomura, UCLA law professor and member of the National Immigration Law Center board of directors.
“This isn’t just the humanitarian piece, this is also not respecting our own processes for determining who has the right to stay and who doesn’t,” the expert said.
Wadhia, the founder and director at Pennsylvania State Law’s Center for Immigrants' Rights added that the US refusal of refugee status to tens of thousands of youth fleeing Central America may even violate international laws.
“We find, to the extent some of these minors are entitled to refugee protection, we have an obligation not only under domestic law but international treaty as well,” Wadhia told RIA Novosti.
Over 60,000 immigrants under the age of 18 being transported to the United States from Central America, and according to current US law, they have the right to appeal to a court to stay in the country if they meet the status of refugees. However, Motomura and others have raised concerns that the legal process is onerous and taxing.
“One of the big concerns I have, and I know a lot of people share, is the fact that a lot of these families are being put in situations where they are in remote locations with no access to lawyers,” said Motomuro.
The UCLA law professor believes that in addition to limited access to legal representation, “in many cases [it is] being impeded by the government.”
