This Note will examine some of the legal arguments surrounding the issue of family unity in immigration detention in the U.S. and how justice can be sought for the minors wrongfully classified by the government as “unaccompanied.” The author posits that the government’s classification of minors traveling in nonparental family units as “unaccompanied” pursuant to 6 U.S.C. § 279(g)(2) unconstitutionally deprives these minors of their judicially recognized substantive due process right of family unity. Like minors who arrive at the border in the company of their parents or legal guardians, these minors should be classified as accompanied and placed in family detention centers with their accompanying nonparental adult family members, argues the author.
