Watch: Retired judge highlights plight of immigrant children in moving court scenes

A retired judge stars in a short film produced by a non-profit immigration law firm to highlight the reality of unaccompanied migrant children facing deportation proceedings in US courts.

It draws attention to the sharp rise in the number of migrant children appearing in court with no family, representation or legal counsel.

The Immigration Counseling Service (ICS), based in Portland, Oregon, recruited retired judge William Snouffer to play the trial judge in a short film based on actual court transcripts.

Arizona State University law professor Robert Miller played the government attorney, and ICS’s Sean Rawson was court translator.

The short film was conceived when filmmaker Linda Freedman contacted ICS lawyer Anna Ciesielski, who had written about the issue in an article published in The Oregonian in mid-March 2014.

The treatment of unaccompanied migrant children by US authorities has come under particular scrutiny in recent months in the wake of new, stricter border policies introduced by President Donald Trump.