Miller Mayer immigration attorney Steve Yale-Loehr was quoted by Univision in “Are parents criminally responsible for sending their children alone to the southern border of the United States?” The article asks if a parent can be sued who pushes a child to leave his or her country. “The question has to do with tort law, not U.S. immigration law,” Mr. Yale-Loehr noted. “The question is whether parents can be sued for negligence by allowing their children to travel alone from their country of origin to the United States.” In practice, “these trials are very rare, for several reasons. First, the child (or someone who sues on behalf of the child) would have to sue. And it is unlikely that children are aware of the United States civil liability law. And they are probably not willing to sue their parents. Also, even if they wanted to sue, they could not pay a lawyer to represent them.” He also said that “even if a child wins a tort lawsuit, many parents would not have money to pay for the damages.” A second question was whether it is legal to allow a child to travel alone and cross the border alone. “Nothing in U.S. immigration law prevents this. Immigration law says that anyone who has a well-founded fear of persecution can apply for asylum. There is no minimum age requirement to apply for asylum at the border,” Mr. Yale-Loehr explained. The full article can be found at https://www.univision.com/noticias/inmigracion/padres-principales-responsables-enviar-solos-hijos-frontera-estados-unidos [Spanish]
