Donation protected
I am an attorney and have volunteered through the Immigrant Justice Campaign to provide legal assistance to children detained at the re-purposed Wal-Mart in Brownsville, TX, known as Casa Padre.
After several trips to the border in Dilley, Texas, to assist mother and children seeking asylum, and Tornillo, Texas, to assist unaccompanied minors seeking asylum, I have been asked to provide legal aid to the influx of children being transferred to Casa Padre.
Casa Padre is a holding center for detained boys in custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) , located in Brownsville, Texas. The facility is run by Southwest Key, a private corporation that is a leading migrant shelter provider. This mega-shelter in a converted Wal-Mart superstore in Brownsville, became a symbol for the outcry over the separation policy. Children’s advocates decried the shelter as effectively a warehouse for children.
The unaccompanied minors wait in the re-purposed Wal-Mart until they are processed by the immigration court and released into the care of a sponsor. Recent policies introduced by the Trump administration have made it easier for immigration authorities to find and arrest potential sponsors who come forward to claim a child. As a result, some potential sponsors have stopped coming forward out of fear. Those who come forward despite the obvious risks have to wait longer because of added bureaucratic red tape.
In the meantime, children are being brought in vans holding dozens of boys at a time, and are kept here potentially indefinitely. Each day these children remain in detention, they suffer.
Each time I travel to the border to work with asylum seeking families and children in detention, I am encouraged by how much one person could do to improve the lives of these children. Non-citizens are not given access to counsel in the same way citizens are. The facilities where they are held are far from robust pro bono legal communities and many asylum seekers never see an attorney. The goal is to process as many claims as possible to determine which are legitimate and deserving of assistance and which are illegitimate and should be deported. Either way, the longer they remain in the limbo of detention, the more dire the consequences become. Every passing day that a child is held in detention has staggering effects on their development, mental health and cognitive abilities.
I feel very privileged that through my language, education and experience, I am particularly situated to do a lot of good work for many people. I will work with a group of lawyers from all over the nation who are coming to support the limited local legal team on the ground. The work includes client intake, Know Your Rights presentations, intake interviews, and preparation and accompaniment to immigration court. I will also be conducting interviews with boys being held at Casa Padre to ensure that the government is complying with the Flores settlement agreement regarding the detention of minors. Flores requires that the children who traveled to United States with their parents be reunited with those parents as soon as possible, and that they be provided with medical treatment and healthy conditions during their detention.
I only have a few days to prepare for this trip and funding is crucial to my ability to provide legal aid. The money raised will fund my plane ticket from Denver to Harlingen Tex, a rental car to drive to the detention facility, pay for food and hotel, and cover the costs related to obtaining clearance to work at the federal facility. Any money raised in excess of my needs will be used to fund another pro bono attorney at the border.
Children belong in homes not detention camps.
After several trips to the border in Dilley, Texas, to assist mother and children seeking asylum, and Tornillo, Texas, to assist unaccompanied minors seeking asylum, I have been asked to provide legal aid to the influx of children being transferred to Casa Padre.
Casa Padre is a holding center for detained boys in custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) , located in Brownsville, Texas. The facility is run by Southwest Key, a private corporation that is a leading migrant shelter provider. This mega-shelter in a converted Wal-Mart superstore in Brownsville, became a symbol for the outcry over the separation policy. Children’s advocates decried the shelter as effectively a warehouse for children.
The unaccompanied minors wait in the re-purposed Wal-Mart until they are processed by the immigration court and released into the care of a sponsor. Recent policies introduced by the Trump administration have made it easier for immigration authorities to find and arrest potential sponsors who come forward to claim a child. As a result, some potential sponsors have stopped coming forward out of fear. Those who come forward despite the obvious risks have to wait longer because of added bureaucratic red tape.
In the meantime, children are being brought in vans holding dozens of boys at a time, and are kept here potentially indefinitely. Each day these children remain in detention, they suffer.
Each time I travel to the border to work with asylum seeking families and children in detention, I am encouraged by how much one person could do to improve the lives of these children. Non-citizens are not given access to counsel in the same way citizens are. The facilities where they are held are far from robust pro bono legal communities and many asylum seekers never see an attorney. The goal is to process as many claims as possible to determine which are legitimate and deserving of assistance and which are illegitimate and should be deported. Either way, the longer they remain in the limbo of detention, the more dire the consequences become. Every passing day that a child is held in detention has staggering effects on their development, mental health and cognitive abilities.
I feel very privileged that through my language, education and experience, I am particularly situated to do a lot of good work for many people. I will work with a group of lawyers from all over the nation who are coming to support the limited local legal team on the ground. The work includes client intake, Know Your Rights presentations, intake interviews, and preparation and accompaniment to immigration court. I will also be conducting interviews with boys being held at Casa Padre to ensure that the government is complying with the Flores settlement agreement regarding the detention of minors. Flores requires that the children who traveled to United States with their parents be reunited with those parents as soon as possible, and that they be provided with medical treatment and healthy conditions during their detention.
I only have a few days to prepare for this trip and funding is crucial to my ability to provide legal aid. The money raised will fund my plane ticket from Denver to Harlingen Tex, a rental car to drive to the detention facility, pay for food and hotel, and cover the costs related to obtaining clearance to work at the federal facility. Any money raised in excess of my needs will be used to fund another pro bono attorney at the border.
Children belong in homes not detention camps.
Organizer
Claire Noone
Organizer
Glenwood Springs, CO