The Reverend Benjamin R. Cremer has an unusual personal history. He grew up in a strict evangelical family in Idaho. He was home-schooled. He became a pastor, following in the path of his faith.
But somewhere along the way, he had an epiphany. He began to change his views. He became tolerant of those who did not share his faith. He began questioning his beliefs. He accepted LGBT people. His views and his life changed. He somehow developed a democratic disposition, an understanding that people of different races, religions, and ethnic groups can live in peace together, solving problems by discussion, collaboration, and mutual respect.
In this post, he deplores the extreme cruelty of Trump’s zeal to deport immigrants. Children are going to court to plead their case–without a lawyer.
This is wrong. When I first read about children under five in court, without a lawyer, I was shocked. Is this still America? Maybe we should call ourselves “Trumplandia” until we once again have national leaders who know and respect the Constitution and who have a heart, a brain, and a soul.
Rev. Cremer writes:
More and more migrant children all over the nation, some as young as two years old, are having to represent themselves in immigration court.
On Monday, September 28th, 25 children sat in an immigration court in Harlingen, Texas awaiting their hearing before a judge. A caseworker sat and quietly explained to the children who everyone was in the room, from the interpreter to the judge behind the bench.
According to a reporter present, among the first to appear before the judge was a 13-year-old Honduran boy named Angel. He didn’t have an attorney.
Asked whether there was a reason he couldn’t return to Honduras, Angel told the judge, “My mom and almost my entire family are here. It’s too dangerous to go back.”
But that wasn’t enough for the judge, who told the boy he did not qualify for asylum. “Would you like to request voluntary departure, or should I issue a removal order?” The judge asked.
“I don’t know,” Angel replied before bursting into tears. He stared ahead stoically and continued to cry, eventually saying: “I have no one. I have nothing.”
“I understand, but based on your answers, US immigration laws are very strict,” the judge concluded, and gave Angel until the end of the month to appeal his deportation order.
Hundreds of unaccompanied migrant children who were detained trying to cross the southern border or whose families were picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are being held in shelters operated by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is tasked with the care of unaccompanied migrant children, the reporter said.
In March 2025, the Trump administration terminated most of the federal Legal Services for Unaccompanied Children Program, which funded organizations providing legal representation and legal orientation to unaccompanied migrant children. The American Bar Association says that action put representation for roughly 26,000 children at risk.
More recently, the situation became even more serious. In November 2025, according to the Senate Finance Committee and immigrant-rights organizations, the administration began withholding payments to organizations representing unaccompanied children. By July 2026, the Senate committee said more than $65 million was being withheld for legal services already provided, and the federal contract supporting the network expired July 31.
The government had a federally funded system specifically designed to provide these children legal representation, and the Trump administration substantially disrupted and ultimately replaced that system.
All while claiming to “uphold Christianity” and “uphold family values.”
Our country is treating children this way. In the name of Christianity. In the name of patriotism. It is inhumane, cruel, and has absolutely nothing to do with human dignity let alone Jesus, who said “whatever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me.
Whenever I write on this subject, I will always have a few callous comments that come up, so I want to address them here.
The first I’ll hear is, “Blame the parents, not our government! They never should have brought them here!”
A toddler didn’t decide to cross a border or choose the circumstances that brought them here. Yet children can end up in immigration proceedings where they are expected to understand an extraordinarily complicated legal system.
The Department of Justice explicitly says that immigration judges cannot appoint an attorney or guardian ad litem for an unaccompanied child. The child can therefore be left to obtain representation through private or pro bono resources or proceed without a lawyer.
Making a child bear the consequences of a situation they had no control over and forced to navigate a complex legal system is inhumane. It is callous to blame people you don’t know for circumstances you can’t even fathom.
The second comment I’ll receive often is, “If they just self deport they wouldn’t have to go through the legal system and get deported.”
That heartless logic just skips over the fact that these are children who can’t simply decide where they will live and arrange their own return.
An immigration removal proceeding is a legal proceeding against the individual child. Where is a child supposed to go when the country of citizenship may be a place they barely remember, where they may have no parent, guardian, home, meaningful support network, or be incredibly unsafe and violent?
The United States can have immigration laws. It can enforce its borders. It can also retain human dignity and recognize that a two-year-old should not have to advocate for themselves in a complex removal proceeding in unfamiliar circumstances they are already experiencing.
For me, it isn’t just that our government is treating children this way. It is that those who claim to follow Jesus continue to support the government treating children this way and even cheer them on as they do, treating all immigrants as if they are subhuman creatures that need to be eradicated from our society.
It’s not just the callus cruelty of our government, it’s the callous cruelty of the hearts that continue to cheer it on.
If we can’t even unite around the issue of children never deserving to be treated this way, then I’m at a loss of how we will ever find common ground.
This isn’t a matter of a “political opinion.” This is just inhumane.
For those who are seeking to help these children, you can find out how through Kids In Need Of Defense: https://supportkind.org/get-involved
“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the orphan.” -Isaiah 10:1-2
Read more here: https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/28/politics/texas-immigration-court-minors
