Immigration judge says 3-year-olds can represent themselves in court

A longtime immigration judge is under fire after he insisted that three-year-old children were capable of learning the law and representing themselves in court. 

Senior Justice Department official Jack H Weil made the shocking claims while giving testimony during a court case regarding whether immigrant children should be given taxpayer-funded attorneys. 

‘I’ve taught immigration law literally to three-year-olds and four-year-olds,’ he said. ‘It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of patience. They get it.’ 

‘It’s not the most efficient, but it can be done.’ 

Senior Justice Department official Jack H Weil is under fire after he insisted that three-year-old children were capable of representing themselves in court. Pictured is children from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvado after being released from Border Protection

Weil repeated the claim again during his deposition, saying: ‘I’ve told you I have trained three-year-olds and four-year-olds in immigration law.’ 

‘You can do a fair hearing,’ he added. ‘It’s going to take a lot of time.’ 

 The Justice Department quickly distanced itself from Weir’s comments and said that he was ‘speaking in a personal capacity’. 

‘At no time has the Department indicated that three and four-year-olds are capable of representing themselves,’ Lauren Alder Reid, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, told the Washington Post. 

‘Jack Weil was speaking in a personal capacity and his statements, therefore, do not necessarily represent the views of EOIR or the Department of Justice.’ 

Reid added that Weil’s comments must be ‘taken in context as part of a four hour deposition’.

‘Mr Weil spoke about various techniques, procedures, and safeguards that can be employed by immigration judges, as warranted, to provide fundamentally fair hearings to all respondents in immigration proceedings,’ she said. 

Weil told the Post that his statements were ‘taken out of context’ and don’t ‘present an accurate assessment of my views on this topic’. 

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Health and Human Services. 

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Justice Department, arguing that it violates the US Constitution by refusing to provide attorneys to children in immigration court. Pictured is a Guatemalan father with his daughter after they were released from Border Protection

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Justice Department, arguing that it violates the US Constitution by refusing to provide attorneys to children in immigration court. Pictured is a Guatemalan father with his daughter after they were released from Border Protection

It is arguing that the departments are violating the US Constitution by refusing to provide attorneys to children in immigration court. 

The Justice Department disagrees, stating in one motion that ‘nothing in the Constitution requires the taxpayers to provide counsel to minors in immigration court’. 

Of the 20,000 unaccompanied children who were involved in deportation proceedings in the last four years, 42 percent did not have an attorney. 

Immigrant attorneys and advocates said there have been instances in the past in which children aged five or younger were forced to represent themselves.    

Weil, who is also responsible for coordinating training for immigration judges, was one of the Justice Department’s ‘expert witnesses’ in the case.

Ahilan Arulanantham, the ACLU attorney who questioned Weil, said it was ‘horrifying’ that he was the witness the Justice Department decided to put forward to present its views. 

‘This is the person in charge of training immigration judges about how to treat children? That is horrifying,’ he said. 

Arulanantham said at first he thought Weil had misspoke during his deposition because ‘what he said was so outrageous’. 

‘As I asked further questions, he obviously meant what we said,’ Arulanantham said.  

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has since introduced a bill that would require that representation be given to children who crossed the border alone or are victims of abuse, torture, or violence. 

While giving a speech about the bill on the Senate floor, Reid recalled one immigration trial that involved a five-year-old girl.  

‘This little girl was clutching a doll and was so short she could barely see over the table to the microphone,’ he said. 

‘She was unable to answer any questions that the judge asked her except for the name of her doll: “Baby Baby Doll”. That was the name of her doll.’  



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