During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA) asked Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari about reports that children, as young as two-years-old, have had to represent themselves in immigration court.
00:00Simon is recognized for five minutes for questioning.
00:03Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.
00:06And I'm glad we're having this conversation.
00:08For approximately 30 years, I've been working on behalf of young trafficked children in the East Bay.
00:14And I cannot tell you how timely this conversation is for the millions of children.
00:20I don't care what administration, what they've had to suffer.
00:25Because for folks, if you've worked with trafficked children, if you've seen the detention facilities,
00:30that they are warehoused in in this country, both in the federal and county level, you would be shocked.
00:36And so I would actually invite members of this committee, of this subcommittee.
00:40We should go see, we should, hands on, the child detention facilities that the federal government are operating.
00:46They are heinous.
00:48So I'm happy to have this conversation.
00:49And I know, you know, for many reasons why I came to Congress, but one of them was to fight for the health and safety
00:57and the well-being of our families, our communities, and our children.
01:00I'm clearly not alone in this fight.
01:02And when the Trump administration abruptly terminated funding for legal services for unaccompanied children,
01:08yes, many of them trafficked, California's Attorney General Rob Bonta led 20 Attorney Generals in challenging that decision.
01:17President Trump is forcing toddlers, many have seen it,
01:22toddlers, many of which who do not speak English to represent themselves in immigration court.
01:30I want to thank Attorney General Rob Bonta for his leadership.
01:33California has a strong intent and interest in protecting the legal rights of unaccompanied children.
01:40Children.
01:40Over 10,800 children, or 11% of all accompanied minors, were released to sponsors in the state of California,
01:49making it the highest after Texas.
01:53Cutting resources to ensure that migrant children have access to legal services is just one way that this administration
02:00is actively punishing and hurting children in their relentless and inhumane immigration agenda
02:06that criminalizes and dehumanizes asylum seekers.
02:11In May 2025, the Trump administration had filed a motion to completely terminate a nearly 30-year agreement
02:21which dictates the basic human rights of children, migrant children, trafficked children in detention.
02:28The Trump administration terminated that agreement.
02:29The florist agreement limits how long migrant children can be detained,
02:35and it also requires that government provide children with adequate food.
02:40Seems like the floor, right?
02:41Adequate food, adequate water, and other necessities like clean clothing and underwear.
02:48This administration terminated that agreement.
02:51The Trump administration is also working to end the requirement for those basic human rights of children
02:57who are seeking asylum.
02:59These children are whom some would consider the most vulnerable and at risk in our country.
03:06The administration also wants to keep migrant children in custody.
03:11In custody.
03:12These children are shackled.
03:14These children are shackled.
03:15In custody longer, which only compounds the physical and mental health and long-term traumas and harms
03:23and will exacerbate their pre-existing conditions to the trauma of their detention by our government.
03:29These harms to both unaccompanied children and families in detention are not only heartbreaking, they are countless.
03:39ICE is detaining children with cancer and pregnant women, that's fact, without adequate medical care or due process.
03:46There are migrant detainees being held without access to natural light or recreation at Dilley Family Detention Center,
03:57which is a warehouse for people in the great state of Texas.
04:01There's a lack of clean water for children, and children are not eating.
04:05And the Department of Homeland Security revoked humanitarian parole for a four-year-old baby girl receiving care for a life-threatening condition.
04:17I can go on and on.
04:19I can go on and on.
04:20But the reality is that my community and communities across the nation, we are not this cruel.
04:27I don't care how you pray or how you vote.
04:29These are facts.
04:30That is not hyperbole.
04:32Children of Abraham, we've got to look at the facts.
04:34We are detaining, warehousing, and denying unaccompanied children who are seeking asylum,
04:41not only due process, but access to medical care, access to clean clothes, access to drinking water, access to attorneys.
