Washington, April 30 (RHC)-- In the U.S., attorneys and advocates are raising concerns for the due process of immigrant children as the Trump administration continues deportation hearings for unaccompanied minors during the pandemic. 

Due to social distancing guidelines, judges appear on a TV screen or connect via telephone, and there are no attorneys physically present.

Public universities in California are issuing emergency grants to students under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, as they cope with the financial devastation triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.  

This comes as over two dozen Democratic congressmembers are condemning Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s exclusion of college students with DACA from receiving coronavirus emergency federal aid to cover expenses like food, housing and child care.

In related news, ProPublica reports internal emails show Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has access to a database containing the personal information of DACA recipients — despite promises from the Trump administration that information from DACA applications would not be sent to deportation agents.