Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)

08/20/2026

A system built to protect children should not become another pathway to detention and deportation.

But unaccompanied children in the U.S. are facing growing barriers at nearly every stage: longer stays in federal custody, greater risks for sponsors and family members, weakened access to legal representation, and immigration proceedings where the stakes can be separation or removal.

When child-welfare information becomes an enforcement tool and reunification carries the threat of arrest, the purpose of the system has fundamentally shifted.

A child is a child. Every child deserves due process, protection, and a chance at safety.

08/17/2026

Children fleeing abuse, abandonment, neglect, or trafficking have legal protections for a reason.

But new policies are making it harder for children to pursue those protections—and in some cases, moving their deportation cases forward before their applications for relief can be resolved.

POLITICO reports that recent changes are limiting the time children have to pursue Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and could strip some unaccompanied children of procedural safeguards designed to ensure their asylum claims are fairly considered.

Children should have a meaningful opportunity to seek the protections available to them under U.S. law. Due process cannot exist when the path to protection is closed before a child has the chance to complete it.

A flurry of Justice Department rulings are starting to impact the deportation proceedings of thousands of children.

08/17/2026

Teachers can change what school feels like for immigrant students.

For more than 40 years, Plyler v. Doe has helped protect children’s right to attend public school, regardless of immigration status. But access to education is about more than entering a classroom. It's also about feeling safe, supported, and able to learn.

At a time when immigrant families are facing heightened fear around immigration enforcement, that support matters even more.

As Javier shares, teachers and mentors helped him understand his work, build confidence, and keep improving.

Every child has the .

08/12/2026

“Prepare yourself to speak on your behalf.”

That was an immigration judge’s instruction to a 7-year-old boy facing deportation without a lawyer.

He was one of several children POLITICO observed appearing without legal representation in a Virginia immigration court, where the consequences of facing the system alone were stark. In one case, a teenager’s asylum claim was decided in minutes before she was ordered deported.

KIND President Wendy Young told POLITICO that the administration “is turning a system that was designed for protection on its head to become one that’s really focused on detention and deportation of children.”

Even as some long-overdue federal funding begins to move, legal service providers are still facing overwhelming caseloads, staffing losses, and months of disruption. Children need meaningful access to attorneys now.

The Trump administration is making it harder for children to secure pro bono lawyers to represent them in deportation proceedings.

08/10/2026

A federal judge has ordered the administration to pay $65 million in overdue payments to nearly 100 organizations providing legal services to unaccompanied children.

KIND is owed more than $26 million in total, including $18.6 million for services provided between December 2025 and April 2026 covered by the court’s order.

These long-overdue payments are welcome and affirm the critical role legal representation plays in protecting children navigating a complex and adversarial immigration system. But they do not resolve the larger crisis.

The administration continues to fundamentally alter longstanding protections designed to give children a fair chance in an immigration system that is complex, adversarial, and often retraumatizing.

As KIND President Wendy Young said, the ruling is “an important affirmation of the critical role legal representation plays” in protecting children.

KIND will continue fighting to ensure unaccompanied children have access to legal representation, due process, and the protections they need and deserve.

Our statement: https://bit.ly/4qsNhXH

08/03/2026

Unaccompanied children are spending an average of 117 days in government custody—up from 30 days in 2024.

During that time, many are also facing an immigration court system that can be overwhelming even for adults. As KIND’s Tess Reagan explains, expecting a five-year-old to understand legal proceedings, recognize their options, and speak for themselves in court is simply unrealistic.

Children need legal support both while they are in custody and after they are released.

Watch now: https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/video/news/local/average-length-of-time-noncitizen-children-held-by-government-has-tripled-since-2024-according-to-advocates/3760660/

08/03/2026

08/01/2026

🚨As children’s immigration cases move forward and access to legal representation is being stripped away, language access matters more than ever.

Volunteer interpreters and translators help children communicate with their legal teams, understand what is happening in their cases, and share their experiences in their own language.

KIND is currently accepting volunteers across a variety of languages, with an immediate need for:

➡️Arabic
➡️Spanish, particularly for asylum interviews
➡️Indigenous Mayan languages
➡️Haitian Creole

Speak another language? We still encourage you to apply. Your skills can help a child feel heard and supported during a critical moment.

Learn more and volunteer: https://bit.ly/4pP99vM

07/31/2026

The administration is withholding $65 million meant to provide legal services to unaccompanied children while their deportation cases continue.

That means children could be forced to face immigration court alone, without a lawyer to help them understand the process or defend their right to protection.

KIND’s Jennifer Podkul told WABE:

“We’re not leaving. We’re going to continue to fight for these kids. They have a right to have their voices heard, and for us to do right by them.”

The fate of more than 20,000 unaccompanied immigrant children remains uncertain as the Trump Administration reportedly is withholding $65 million meant for their legal fees in immigration courts.

07/31/2026

Children as young as three are appearing in immigration court without lawyers.

They are being asked questions that can determine whether they are allowed to remain in safety or sent back to danger. Some are being given only weeks to complete asylum applications in English, even when they do not speak, read, or write the language.

This is not a process children can navigate on their own. They may not understand what is being asked, know what protections are available, or feel safe enough to disclose abuse, trafficking, or persecution in a courtroom.

KIND New York Regional Director Emily Norman described “a closing in and targeting of children in a way that we didn’t see under the first Trump administration.”

Children are being pushed through a system they cannot reasonably understand on their own. Taking away their lawyers while accelerating their cases makes an already unfair process even more dangerous.

About 20,000 unaccompanied minors will lose legal representation if the federal government ends a longstanding contract on Friday, kicking current problems into overdrive across US