Fox News Nails The Border-Child Attorney Issue

The headline nails the story for a Fox News report: “Will illegal immigrant kids stay or be sent home? Depends if they have a lawyer.” The report cites a recent report from theĀ Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. The report traces the status of more than 100,000 cases involving juveniles clogging the system, and Fox reports that “… in cases where the child had an attorney, they were allowed to stay in the United States nearly half the time. Children who appeared in court alone or without any type of legal representation were deported nine out of 10 times.”

Fox boils it down: “Because crossing the U.S. border without authorization or documentation is a civil offense and not a criminal one, the government is not required to provide children — no matter how young — with publicly funded counsel. But legal representation is a key factor.” Given that having representation takes you from a one-in-ten chance of staying to a “more than 50-50” shot, Fox shows a certain gift for understatement. See the report here: