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JOHN SHATTUCK of serious danger. Ihrough a series of interlocking policies and programs, Trump severely limited the ability of immigrants to seek asylum at the southern border, cutting refugee admissions to a trickle. These programs included a “metering” policy limiting the number of individuals who can make asylum claims at the border; Migrant Protection Protocols, which return Central American asylum seekers to potentially dangerous conditions in Mexico while awaiting decisions on their claims; and bans on asylum to immigrants who do not present themselves at a recognized port of entry. Another program requires Central American migrants to present themselves for asylum in the countries through which they transit, including Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, despite longstanding concerns about violence and persecution in these countries. The most notorious Trump administration policy was the separation of migrant children from their parents and caregivers at the border, scattering them among 100 Office of Refugee Resettlement shelters and other sites across the country.’ Internal government memos showed that this policy — which effectively forced migrants to choose between remaining in their home countries in dangerous circumstances with their children, or leaving their children behind — was explicitly intended to deter asylum seekers. Following nationwide criticism, the Trump administration signed an executive order in June 2018 ending the family separation policy. Even after the official end of the policy, however, more than a thousand additional children were separated from their families. The total number of children separated since the separation policy went into effect in July 2017 was estimated at the end of 2020 to be more than 5,400.° While in detention facilities, separated children and unaccompanied minors were often subject to abuse, including hundreds of reported cases of sexual abuse by adult staff members. The vast majority of immigrants facing removal do not have access to legal counsel. Even young children are expected to shoulder the cost of counsel or represent themselves in immigration court. Asa result, only 37% of all immigrants are able to secure legal representation in their removal cases.’ An additional problem that confronts due process in immigration courts is the severe shortage 5 SPLC — Southern Poverty Law Center, Family Separation Under the Trump Administration — A Timeline, SPLC (17 June 2020), https://www.splcenter.org/news/2019/09/24/familyseparation-under-trump-administration-timeline. Jacob Soboroff — Julia Ainsley, Trump Administration Identifies at Least 1,700 Additional Children It May Have Separated, NBC (18 May 2019), https://www.nbcnews. com/news/us-news/1-700-additional-separated-migrant-children-identified-trumpadministration-n1007426. Ingrid Eagly — Steven Shafer, Access to Counsel in Immigration Court, Washington DC., American Immigration Council, 2016, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/ research/access-counsel-immigration-court. s 160"
