Help Us Rescue Interned Refugee Child

Mariano is a 16 year old Mam speaking child from Guatemala who has been interned in government custody for over a year in 4 different facilities. He is an abandoned child who was brought to Texas by a trafficker when he was 15. The trafficker was deported. Mariano was left in detention where he reached his 16th birthday. He is now held in Fairfield, California, approaching his 17th birthday next month on May 23d.  We filed suit in federal court in Sacramento on April 10, 2020, seeking his release. The pandemic has quickened our efforts due to the risks of a COVID infection inherent in a congregate facility, and we have asked a judge for emergency relief. More here  "https://www.scribd.com/doc/456327303" 

We are asylum lawyers based in Laredo, Texas, working to free refugee children across the country subjected to federal custody. We are committed to freeing Mariano, and look forward to celebrating his 17th birthday as a free American. More here  Mariano has no relatives or friends in the US. We presented the government with an application from the family of Bryce Tache, who live in Minneapolis, after Mariano was introduced to the family by video. The government refused to even consider the application because Mariano's chosen sponsor was not related to him. The pandemic has taken us to court on an emergency basis seeking to free Mariano to the Tache family, and a judge will soon have the final say.

We defend our child clients pro bono, but rely on contributions from Americans who support our efforts to cover our costs and expenses, which allows us to continue the work of defending interned refugee children. The need for this work is great, as there are literally thousands of detained refugee children who, like Mariano, have no family or friends in America, are prevented by the government from being rescued by American families, and become mere assets for the books of the private child detention industry with literally no way out.

"The reason children are stacking up in in these detention camps is because ORR does not allow qualified American families to take these children in," de Anda said. "I know for a fact, just from my practice, how many Americans are willing to open their doors to take these children in. But the door is absolutely closed to them. And as a result, these children are stacking up and they're languishing." More here  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/why-can-t-immigrant-teens-be-sponsors-foster-families-attorneys-n1001421 

Please help us keep fighting. We are committed, with your help, to fight as lawyers for interned refugee children until ever last one is out. Help us speak for Mariano and the thousands of children like him languishing in the cold clutches of the regime who have no one to look to who will speak out for them.