FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 23, 2026
CONTACT: press@acaciajustice.org
WASHINGTON—In response to reports that the Office of Refugee Resettlement spokespeople are presenting an alternative timeline that ‘challenges’ reports of an Immigration Judge telling a one-year-old baby to file an asylum application by himself, Shaina Aber, Executive Director of the Acacia Center for Justice, said:
“Americans were shocked when an immigration judge in Arizona told a one-year-old baby to file an asylum application after the Trump administration allowed the Unaccompanied Children Program to expire just two weeks prior. The absurdity of the proceeding was reported by multiple sources. Now, the Office of Refugee Resettlement is fabricating an ‘alternative timeline’ because they are trying to walk back the fallout from their catastrophic failure to plan for a transition for the thousands of unaccompanied children who are caught in this administration’s mass deportation agenda. But no amount of rewriting the timeline changes the fundamental truth: children are being forced to navigate extraordinarily complex immigration proceedings without guaranteed legal representation. Instead of trying to shift blame, this administration should restore meaningful access to legal services that gave children a fighting chance to understand their rights, have their voices and cases understood, and receive due process.”
This attempt to hide some of the consequences of the Trump administration’s attacks on children cannot go unchallenged. Acacia Center for Justice has compiled a comprehensive timeline of this administration’s attacks on unaccompanied children, dating back to January 2025, which is available here.
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