Leadership

Legal Groups Call On Members to Represent Undocumented Youth Surging Into U.S.

The recent wave of young undocumented immigrants into Texas has created both a political firestorm and a humanitarian crisis, as thousands of children and teens await processing in detention centers near the U.S.-Mexico border. Several lawyers’ associations this week put out urgent calls to their members to provide the youths with legal representation.

The recent wave of young undocumented immigrants into Texas has created both a political firestorm and a humanitarian crisis, as thousands of children and teens await processing in detention centers near the U.S.-Mexico border. Several lawyers’ associations this week put out urgent calls to their members to provide the youths with legal representation.

The political blame game over the current youth immigration crisis in Texas has ratcheted up in recent weeks as thousands of undocumented youth, many of them unaccompanied by adults and reportedly fleeing poverty and violence in Central America, have crossed into the U.S. from Mexico and immediately been transported to overcrowded detention centers.

President Obama visited the Dallas area this week to hold a roundtable discussion on the crisis with local faith leaders and Texas officials, including Gov. Rick Perry, after asking Congress to approve $3.7 billion in emergency spending to send more resources to the border.

In an analysis of the situation released last month, the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute said there is no single cause for the dramatic surge in youth crossing over the border and that the crisis “does not lend itself to a quick fix or a lasting solution.”

As debate continues over Obama’s funding request and potential legislative changes to allow for quicker deportation of children, a number of lawyers’ associations have asked their members to help by providing volunteer assistance to the undocumented youth.

In Texas

Dallas County announced earlier this week that it would move forward with plans to bring some of the children stuck at the border to North Texas. With the prospect of hundreds of immigration proceedings looming, the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association (DHBA) and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) put out calls for volunteers to provide pro bono services.

“We have many members who are interested in wanting to see what we can do to assist these children in ensuring they have their legal rights protected and, if there are immigration proceedings, that they are represented by an attorney,” Elisabeth Wilson, DHBA’s board president, said in an interview with local radio station 1080 KRLD.

AILA posted a survey on its website for members who are interested in offering their services. “Although the exact legal process for these children remains unclear as of this writing, AILA needs to be prepared to help meet the legal needs of these children—wherever that may be,” the group said.

So far, the response has been good, but DHBA’s Wilson said they’d like to see more volunteers come forward. “Even if you’re not Spanish-speaking or you don’t have an immigration background or anything like that—we are able to assist any attorney who would be willing to assist in these types of representations and train them,” she said.

In Florida

In two separate statements this week, the South Florida Chapter of AILA noted that many of the undocumented children at the border “may have legitimate claims to asylum, special immigrant juvenile status, family reunification, U and T visa protection against crime and trafficking, and other humanitarian relief.” It called on Obama to use his executive authority to advance immigration reform.

“Ours is no longer simply a broken immigration system; it is a hellish one if it can’t even treat children as special under the law,” the group said.

It added: “President Obama’s executive latitude in fixing immigration policy is broad. He can lawfully exercise this power, without congressional action, to ameliorate harsh immigration policies that are not responsive to family and business needs.”

(iStock/Thinkstock)

Rob Stott

By Rob Stott

Rob Stott is a contributing editor for Associations Now. MORE

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