Apart from the TVPRA, a longstanding court injunction in Perez-Funez v. District Director, 619 F. Supp. 656 (C.D. Cal. 1985), grants another layer of protection to unaccompanied immigrant children. The Perez-Funez litigation alleged that then-INS had a policy and practice of coercing children into accepting voluntary departure from the United States, thereby waiving their rights to a hearing and an opportunity to apply for relief. After trial, the court held that the government’s existing voluntary departure procedures violated the children’s due process rights, and interposed critical safeguards designed to minimize the risk of coercion. Id. at 669-70.
The Perez-Funez injunction, now implemented in regulations that apply to both DHS and