威廉·莎士比亚在《亨利四世》中的名句——“我们要做的第一件事，就是杀掉所有律师”——描绘了一场针对暴君君主的农民起义。起义者意识到，要实现他们的目标，他们首先必须消灭那些懂规则、能够阻挡无法无天暴民的人。
William Shakespeare’s famous line in Henry IV — “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” — depicted a peasants’ rebellion against a tyrannical monarchy. The rebels realized that in order to achieve their objective, they first had to eliminate those who knew the rules and could stand in the way of a lawless mob.
卫生与公众服务部部长罗伯特·F·肯尼迪 Jr. 本人就是一名律师，他可能对这种策略有所了解。看来他正在针对移民儿童使用这一策略。
Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., himself a lawyer, may know something about this strategy. He seems to be using it against immigrant children.
9月29日，肯尼迪在《联邦纪事》上发布的一则不起眼的通知中宣布，在总法律顾问办公室下设立一个名为“无人陪伴移民儿童代表处”的新部门，该部门应“无人陪伴移民儿童的法律服务提供者”运作。换言之，特朗普政府现在将使用自己的律师，在司法部雇佣的移民法官面前，针对涉及儿童的驱逐程序，与自己的律师对抗。特朗普站在这场戏的所有参与者之巅。这些孩子根本没有还手之力。
On September 29, in a nondescript notice published in the Federal, Kennedy announced the creation of a new department in the general counsel’s office named the “Unaccompanied Alien Children Representation Division,” which is supposed to “operate as a legal service provider for unaccompanied alien children.”Translated, the Trump administration will now use its own lawyers to go up against its own lawyers in deportation proceedings involving children before immigration judges employed by the Department of Justice. Trump sits atop of all of the actors in this play. The kids don’t stand a fighting chance.
移民程序被视为民事而非刑事性质，因此第六修正案关于律师权的规定不适用。但国会在2008年《威廉·威尔伯福斯人口贩卖受害者保护法重新授权法》中半心半意地承认，移民儿童需要律师，该法案规定：“在切实可行的范围内，卫生与公众服务部长应确保无人陪伴的外国儿童……能够获得律师，以在法律程序或事务中代表他们，并保护他们免受虐待、剥削和人口贩卖。”
Immigration proceedings are considered civil, not criminal, in nature, so the Sixth Amendment right to counsel does not apply. But Congress half-heartedly acknowledged that immigrant children need lawyers in the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, which directs that “[t]o the greatest extent practicable, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall ensure that unaccompanied alien children . . . have access to counsel to represent them in legal proceedings or matters and protect them from mistreatment, exploitation, and trafficking.”
“在切实可行的范围内”几乎不是一种保证。但在随后的一项规则中，卫生与公众服务部明确规定，移民儿童应获得“有关免费法律援助可获得性的法律服务信息，以及他们可以在不产生政府费用的情况下由律师代表；在移民法官面前进行遣返听证会的权利；首次申请庇护的能力……以及申请自愿离境以替代遣返的能力。”
“To the greatest extent possible” is hardly a guarantee. But in a subsequent rule, HHS explicitly mandated that immigrant children get “[l]egal services information regarding the availability of free legal assistance, and that they may be represented by counsel at no expense to the government, the right to a removal hearing before an immigration judge; the ability to apply for asylum … in the first instance, and the ability to request voluntary departure in lieu of removal.”
每年出现在移民法庭中的2万名儿童中，许多人没有律师。因此，数十年来，卫生与公众服务部一直与诸如正义金合中心（Acacia Center for Justice）之类的法律服务提供商签订合同，以处理法庭代表工作，并为儿童开展强制性的“知晓你的权利”简报。
Many of the 20,000 children who appear in immigration courts each year have no counsel. And so for decades, HHS has contracted with legal service providers such as the Acacia Center for Justice to handle court representation and mandated know-your-rights briefings for the kids.
然而，去年11月，特朗普政府决定：如果这些法律非营利组织拒绝交出其儿童客户的机密信息，则停止向其付款。这些儿童如今将由肯尼迪新设立的部门中的特朗普卫生与公众服务部律师代表，或者由OUR Rescue代表——这是一个有争议的组织，最初由前特朗普顾问创立，该顾问曾参与2023年电影《自由的声音》的制作，该片曾受到保守媒体的大力推广。
Then, last November, the Trump administration stopped paying many legal nonprofits if they refused to turn over confidential information about their pediatric clients. These children will now be represented either by Trump HHS lawyers in the new division created by Kennedy or by OUR Rescue — a controversial organization originally founded by the former Trump advisor involved in the 2023 film “The Sound of Freedom,” which was promoted heavily by conservative media.
OUR Rescue不是一家律师事务所，也没有资格代表这些儿童，但特朗普政府却莫名其妙地给了它一份1.58亿美元的单一来源、无需竞标的合同，让它来做这件事。伯克律师事务所也获得了一份无需竞标的合同，该事务所的负责人曾在特朗普第一届政府任职。该事务所从事能源法，而非移民法。
OUR Rescue is not a law office and has no competency to represent these children, yet Trump’s administration somehow gave it a $158 million sole-source, no-bid contract to do just that. Also receiving a no-bid contract to the Burke Law Group, whose principal worked for Trump in his first administration. The firm does energy law, not immigration.
正义金合中心已提出投标抗议。但与此同时，人们正合理地担心这些儿童可能得不到有效的法律援助。无论是特朗普政府本身，还是与特朗普政府关系密切的组织，如今在这些儿童的移民程序中双方都有代表，他们的第五修正案正当程序权因此变得荒谬。
The Acacia Center for Justice has filed a bid protest. But in the meantime, there is a legitimate concern that these children will not receive effective counsel. With either the Trump administration itself or a Trump-adjacent organization now on both sides of these children’s immigration proceedings, their Fifth Amendment right to due process becomes farcical.
当年幼的孩子独自出庭时，法官通常至少会感到有义务确保他们了解正在发生的事情并得到公平对待。如今政府“律师”站在讲台上代表他们，这种义务感可能会消失。此外，特朗普政府律师的介入很可能意味着驱逐程序将更快速、更高效地推进，这符合特朗普对加速大规模驱逐的执念。
When young kids show up in court alone, judges usually at least feel an obligation to ensure that they understand what is going on and are treated fairly. With a government “lawyer” now at the podium on their behalf, that incentive could dissipate. Moreover, Trump administration lawyers’ involvement likely means that the deportation process will move along more quickly and efficiently, in keeping with the Trump’s obsession over accelerated mass deportations.
对于涉案律师而言，这种双重代表违反了众多职业行为准则。这包括他们不得在存在利益冲突的情况下代表客户的义务，未经客户同意不得透露客户的机密信息（在此案中，向特朗普政府透露——而年幼的儿童无法给予同意），不得允许付费方（在此案中，特朗普政府）指示其专业判断如何行使（以免他们失去工作），以及必须热情地代表未成年儿童，而这些儿童因决策能力本就有限，这一点由定义决定。
For the lawyers involved, the dual representation violates numerous standards of professional conduct. This includes their obligation not to represent a client if it would involve a concurrent conflict of interest, not to reveal confidential information regarding a client (here, to the Trump administration) without the client’s consent (which young children cannot give), not to allow someone paying a lawyer (here, the Trump administration) to direct how their professional judgment is exercised (lest they lose their jobs), and to zealously represent minor children whose capacity to make decisions is by definition diminished.
与此同时，年仅两岁的前语言阶段幼儿也常规性地收到出庭通知，参加驱逐出境程序，且越来越多的儿童在没有法律代表的情况下出庭。他们无法阅读表格，无法理解“可驱逐性”指控，也无法表达诸如害怕迫害之类的有效法律主张。法庭报道描述了孩子们玩麦克风、在长椅上画画，以及在法官试图进行正式程序时哭闹的情景。
Meanwhile, pre-verbal toddlers as young as two are routinely issued notices to appear for removal proceedings and are increasingly showing up without legal representation. They cannot read forms, comprehend charges of “removability,” or articulate viable legal claims like fear of persecution. Courtroom reporting has described kids playing with microphones, drawing on benches, and crying while judges attempt to conduct official proceedings.
统计数据表明，如果儿童有律师代表，其驱逐出境率会从超过80%降至仅12%。正如纳尔逊·曼德拉所言，一个社会的真正品格体现在它如何对待儿童。以此为标准，特朗普时期的美国是彻头彻尾的失败。我们必须做得更好。
Statistics show that children’s deportation rates go from over 80 percent to just 12 percent if they are represented by counsel. As Nelson Mandela rightly said, the true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children. By that metric, America under Trump is an abject failure. We must do better.
金伯利·韦勒目前是荷兰高等人文社会科学研究院的主题小组协调员和研究员，著有《如何阅读宪法——以及为什么》、《您需要了解的关于投票的一切——以及为什么》以及《如何像律师一样思考——以及为什么》。
Kimberly Wehle is currently a thematic group coordinator and fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences and author of “How to Read the Constitution — and Why,” as well as “What You Need to Know About Voting — and Why” and “How to Think Like a Lawyer — and Why.“