The Trump administration is forcing children as young as 3 years old to represent themselves in immigration courts, it has been revealed.
According to the Texas Tribune immigrant children are being ordered into court for their own deportation proceedings.
The revelation comes as the White House faces a major backlash over separating families at the border.
It is believed that some 2,000-plus separated children are being asked to deal with court proceedings as they grapple with the ongoing trauma of being taken from their parents.
Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center in Los Angeles, said: “We were representing a 3-year-old in court recently who had been separated from the parents.
“And the child — in the middle of the hearing — started climbing up on the table.
“It really highlighted the absurdity of what we’re doing with these kids.”
Now This has released a dramatisation of one of the cases using real court transcripts.
Watch the heartbreaking video in full below:
The Trump administration is forcing children as young as toddlers to represent themselves in immigration courts pic.twitter.com/MCggJnN2Xn
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 4, 2018
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