An startling analysis of DHS data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at University Syracuse University shows that only one out of ten child refugees who appeared without an attorney before an immigration judge were allowed to stay in the United States.
By contrast, five out of ten children who had legal representation in court were allowed to remain. Unfortunately, of the more than 100,000 cases obtained by TRAC, almost half the children who did appear before a judge did so without an attorney.
The data also found that two-thirds of unaccompanied minors who turned themselves in at the border and then were released came back for their court hearings, with children fleeing violence from Honduras and El Salvador being particularly likely to show for court dates. A chart from Vox illustrates:
