The Trump administration is no longer offering due process protections to the most vulnerable immigrant children as it tries to increase the number of deportations, according to a lawsuit filed this week on behalf of six children, five of whom reside in Allegheny County.
“This case is about the most vulnerable in our immigration system: abused, abandoned, neglected, and trafficked children,” the opening lines of the lawsuit read. “One would assume it would be a priority of our immigration system to protect, at least, these children.”
The 159-page complaint, filed against the Department of Homeland Security and its Secretary Markwayne Mullin in federal civil court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, argues that new procedures and rules implemented by immigration judges in the past year have effectively undermined a 1990 law that was supposed to provide special protections to these children.
Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh (JFCS), which filed the lawsuit Wednesday, said that some of the children who have been ordered removed have already been identified as having been sexually trafficked or abused and abandoned by their parents. Others are being deported while the children are in the middle of making their case – or even before they have had a real opportunity to be heard.
“Despite the risks, whatever they may be, we need to stand up at this time.”
Dana Gold, chief operations officer for JFCS
“The United States has long recognized a compelling interest in protecting children from harm and trafficking, an interest Congress has codified and reaffirmed for more than three decades,” the complaint reads. “Immigration authorities, and immigration courts, throughout the United States are now refusing to afford children the due process to seek that protection.”
A spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that ICE is trying to stop trafficking among children. “President Trump and DHS are laser-focused on protecting children and will continue to work with federal, state, and local law enforcement to reunite children with their families,” the statement said. “All illegal aliens receive due process.”
‘Heaven and hell’ pledge unfulfilled?
One of the children described in the lawsuit is a 17-year-old from Guatemala who was issued a letter from the Department of Health and Human Services, stating “We have determined that you were subjected to a severe form of trafficking in persons.” But she was still ordered removed by an immigration court in Philadelphia on July 16.
The removal of a girl who has been trafficked, the lawsuit argues, contradicts the stated goals of Secretary Mullin, who is quoted as saying he would “move heaven and hell to go find these kids.”
“It is a hypocritical position to espouse,” the complaint says, “while simultaneously looking for credit in locating missing or trafficked children. They are right here” and the Trump administration is “seeking to return them to harm, without any due process.”
Another one of the children whose removal status is being challenged by the lawsuit is a 15-year-old from El Salvador who lives in Allegheny County. The girl has already gone through the process of proving that it would not be in her interest to be reunited “due to abuse, abandonment or neglect.”
“One would assume it would be a priority of our immigration system to protect, at least, these children.”
JFCS complaint
JFCS has provided legal help to nearly 3,000 unaccompanied minors in the last five years, including representation in immigration court for 983, in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The Trump administration’s new guidelines and rules are making it nearly impossible for the small nonprofit to continue its work, according to Dana Gold, the chief operations officer for JFCS.
The lawsuit is the only one in the country of its kind that Gold is aware of. “Nobody else across the country is doing this. They’re waiting for us,” she said. “And so we have a grave responsibility for these children.”
The lawsuit is “risky” for JFCS because it puts them in direct opposition to the federal government, which the nonprofit has traditionally relied on for several big grants. “Losing funds at this point is outweighed by the incredible risk these children face,” she said. “So despite the risks, whatever they may be, we need to stand up at this time.”
No info on kids, no contract
The federal contract under which JFCS has traditionally been funded to carry out this work is set to expire today. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which awards the contract, said in a statement to Public Source that it offered the opportunity to renew the contract if organizations like JFCS provided “data on whom they represent.” Acacia, the nonprofit that administers the contract, was unwilling to provide confidential information about the children’s cases.
Reps. Chris Deluzio and Summer Lee wrote a letter to the resettlement office this week requesting that funding for immigrant children be restored.
Many of the vulnerable children who receive special immigration status due to abuse or being trafficked must wait years to be eligible to apply for a more permanent status, because Congress limited how many children may receive the special visas annually. Now, the lawsuit argues, these children are being ordered removed while they await an opportunity for one of these visas.
Marcy Hilty, one of two JFCS lawyers who offered sworn-testimony as part of the complaint, said the new procedures are retraumatizing the children who are often slow to trust. The changes require them to attend a rapid series of immigration court hearings that are no longer tied to the processes necessary for the children to prove their cases.
“Our team must now reconcile issues that seem quite paradoxical: child clients that have been, admittedly, abused, abandoned, neglected or trafficked — but yet are still facing deportation orders imminently,” Hilty testified. “I, for one, have yet to find a good way to explain this to my clients.”
The children are forced to miss school every couple of weeks, she said, to attend “rocket docket” court hearings. In the past, court hearings would be held over a longer time period. Now the children they represent are being pulled into court hearings every two or three weeks, without any changes to their case status, and many of those children don’t understand why they are there.
“They often do not understand what a judge is, what a hearing is, or the role that lawyers play in their lives,” Hilty said in the testimony submitted as part of the lawsuit. “It is hard for these young children to understand that we, as their legal counsel, are on their side and trying to help them, as opposed to being responsible for their detention.”
Still, Hilty said that she and the youth she represents hold out hope their rights will be restored. “Our clients come to the United States with the belief that this country was one founded on ideals that fight against oppressors,” she said.
“We maintain with our clients a shared understanding of a fighting spirit and hope that at some point, someone will help,” Hilty testified.
The lawsuit is asking the court to vacate the administrative changes that have prevented JFCS’ six clients from pursuing their special legal status and to prevent their removal while they pursue these legal claims.
Editors note: This story was updated on July 31, 2026 to include a response from DHS.
Oliver Morrison is the health and environment reporter at Pittsburgh’s Public Source and can be reached at oliver@publicsource.org.
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