Groups of young people made appearances before immigrant court judges in New York this week as part of a new accelerated program under the Obama administration to deal with the surge of unaccompanied minors from Central America.

Fifty-five children came before the New York immigrant court on Wednesday and Thursday, according to The New York Times.

Under the strategy, the Justice Department is moving children to the beginning of the line through a process called priority dockets or "rocket dockets," leading to just months before deportation instead of years.

Legal groups are worried these expedited proceedings violate due process.

"Justice Department officials said they had a mandate to ensure that children went before an immigration judge within 21 days of being placed in deportation proceedings. They plan to hold the special dockets as often as necessary to reach the goals," reported The New York Times.

On Wednesday, IFCO/Pastors for Peace (Interreglious Foundation for Community Organization) members rallied outside the Federal Plaza, downtown Manhattan, where the immigrant court operates.

"As a religious leader, this is one of the places I am supposed to be. I am always fighting with my Bishop that there is something going on between Sunday and Sunday, and it's the reality of what's going on with the communities here in New York City. This issue of calling people illegal, calling people undocumented, this feeling of xenophobia, is a very serious issue for me is top priority. Most of the people here are from the south Bronx, from the Honduras community, but we also engage with people coming from Eastern Europe, Africa and the English speaking Islands in the Caribbean," said Rev. Luis Barrios, co-Executive Director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace.

"One is to denounce this building -- these are the headquarters of injustice. It is supposed to represent dreams. It is not about dreams, it's about punishment, it's about rejection, it's about marginalization, so we are against that, it's why we target this building."

The group walks around the building in a symbolic Jericho Walk, a Jewish and Muslim tradition where people who are desperate for justice people march until the walls of injustice fall down. 

"Part of what we are doing here is educating people against all these myths against immigrants that are not correct -- issues like connecting immigration with terrorism or saying that every single immigrant is a criminal or saying that immigrants don't make a contribution into this country, " Barrios said.

Latin Post asked Barrios about all the local efforts to provide pro-bono legal counsel and provide physical and mental programs, compared to the dysfunction on national level with Congress and the White House lock-jammed over immigration.

"What's going on is good, but it is not enough. This is a social service and we need to get into social action. The first social action is to declare that they are not immigrants, they are refugees.

"I am always reminding people that in order to understand how is it that someone dares to cross that border taking all the risk, coming to this country -- there are social, political, economic reasons. It is not correct to say that people wake up today, they have nothing else to do and they make a decision, 'I am going to the U.S.' It is a little more complicated," he said.

"There are a lot of things going on in most of the Latin American countries, especially with all these U.S. corporations, starting with NAFTA. They go into these countries and create all this unemployment, there is no hope, no expectation for people, and then the only outcome is to get the hell of there, find a job and then start sending money back to your country. So because this problem is complicated, the solution needs to be complicated. But the way to start is to say they are not immigrants, they are refugees," Barrios said.