Rights of Juveniles in Removal Proceedings.      Perez-Funez v. INS, 619 F. Supp. 656, 662 (C.D. Cal. 1985), lays out the special procedural rights possessed by juvenile respondents in immigration proceedings. Considering whether the INS was using coercion to make unaccompanied minors to accept voluntary departure, and thereby waive their right to seek relief before an immigration judge, the court observed: "[U]naccompanied children of tender years encounter a stressful situation in which they are forced to make critical decisions. Their interrogators are foreign and authoritarian. The environment is new and the culture completely different. The law is complex. The children generally are questioned separately. In short, it is obvious to the Court that the situation faced by unaccompanied minor aliens is inherently coercive." Id. at 662.      The immigration regulations also provide some procedural protection to minors in removal proceedings. Under 8 C.F.R . 240.10(c), a minor cannot admit removability unless a qualified adult is present. Failure to comply with this regulation will invalidate the admission.

jurisdiction: 
Lower Courts of Ninth Circuit

 

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