Toddler, 3, forced to represent herself in immigration court

A 3-year-old girl was reportedly forced to represent herself in immigration court in Tucson, Arizona, on Nov. 24, one of 25 unaccompanied children who appeared without attorneys to defend themselves against deportation.

Little Lucy: The toddler, identified by The Copper Courier as Lucy, needed help to get into her seat from Ana Islas, an attorney with the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project (FIRRP), who shared case details with the judge but could not formally represent the child. Islas gave Lucy a brown teddy bear to ease her anxiety before Judge Irene C. Feldman. At her initial hearing in August, FIRRP attorneys explained that the nonprofit lost most federal funding in March when the Trump administration ended their contracts, leaving them unable to take new clients.

Data from the American Immigration Council shows immigrants with legal representation are far more likely to avoid removal, but immigration attorneys charge $1,500 to $15,000 or higher. Needless to say, detained children cannot afford such costs on their own. Lucy’s shelter has made progress connecting her with a potential U.S. sponsor, though her parents’ whereabouts remain unknown. Feldman scheduled Lucy’s next appearance for March 2026, saying, “I hope Lucy gets to safety.”

What this means: Lucy’s case reflects a broader enforcement shift targeting children in immigrant families. Just two days after her hearing, ICE detained Chinese national Fei Zheng and his 6-year-old son Yuanxin during a scheduled check-in in New York City, separating them. Yuanxin, who is currently under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which places children like Lucy in contracted shelters, had recently enrolled as a first-grader at P.S. 166Q in Astoria before his detention. From January through mid-October, authorities arrested roughly 2,600 children nationwide, with at least 140 minors under 18 arrested in the New York area alone.

The detention crisis extends beyond arrests. About 400 immigrant children were held beyond the court-mandated 20-day custody limit from August to September, including five children detained for 168 days, according to a Dec. 1 ICE report. In a separate court filing Monday, advocates documented families receiving spoiled food containing worms and delays in medical treatment. They said one child with a bleeding eye injury was not seen by medical staff for two days, while another child’s foot was broken when staff dropped a volleyball net pole on it.

Meanwhile: As children like Lucy face deportation proceedings, the Supreme Court announced last Friday that it will decide whether President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship is constitutional, with arguments expected in April and a ruling by June. Signed hours after his January inauguration, the order would deny automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants and temporary visa holders, potentially affecting thousands of Asian American families.

The administration argues the 14th Amendment was meant for freed slaves, not children of undocumented immigrants or temporary visitors, while critics say the policy would upend more than a century of settled law. Though federal judges quickly blocked the order as unconstitutional, the case raises fundamental questions about who qualifies as American.

Lucy returns to immigration court in March 2026, most likely still without legal counsel.