Henry’s story is harrowing, but the most unusual part of it is the fact that he was able to find a lawyer to help him navigate the immigration court system. Most kids in the same situation aren’t so lucky. In fact, more than half of all minors who go through immigration court proceedings in the U.S. do so without the guidance of an attorney. That’s why the American Immigration Council, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Public Counsel and K&L Gates LLP, have filed a class-action lawsuit against the United States, arguing that the government should be required to provide legal representation to children during immigration court proceedings.

The suit’s plaintiff’s range in age from 10 to 17, are all native citizens of either El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, or Honduras, and are currently scheduled to appear in immigration court without representation. One of the plaintiffs, a 15-year-old Mexican native, has lived in the United States since he was one year old. Another, now 16, came to the U.S. from Honduras at age eight.

If successful, the lawsuit would help far more kids than the eight named in the complaint. The current flow of undocumented minors, many from Central America, over the Mexican border into Texas—about 90,000 are expected to arrive this year in all—will eventually flood the already clogged immigration courts. Immigration proceedings are considered a civil matter, rather than a criminal one under U.S. law and as a result, defendants—regardless of age—are not required by law to be provided with counsel if they cannot afford a lawyer on their own. The groups suing the government want to make sure that all of these kids will have access to legal representation when their day in immigration court comes.