Austin, TX - Through a generous $20,000 grant from the Texas Bar Foundation, Austin-area unaccompanied minors who are actively in deportation proceedings will have greater access to justice through pro bono representation by RAICES attorneys.
In 2014, RAICES accepted four justice AmeriCorps fellows as part of an Equal Justice Works (EJW) program providing universal legal representation for unaccompanied children. By 2017, the Austin-area caseload of the two EJW fellows reached over 100 cases unaccompanied children primarily from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Children entering the United States immigration system do not automatically receive legal representation. Children of all ages, including infants and toddlers, may have to face immigration court without a legal advocate. Increased scrutiny of these particular cases from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services agency (USCIS) has intensified, making representation even more crucial to the future of these children. However, due to federal budgetary constraints, funding for the EJW attorney fellows has been eliminated, a funding cut which could have resulted in the loss of representation for over 100 unaccompanied children in Austin.
Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $18 million in grants to law-related programs. Supported by members of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar Foundation is the nation's largest charitably-funded bar foundation. RAICES is grateful for the continued support of the Texas Bar Foundation.
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RAICES, founded in 1986 as part of the sanctuary movement in South Texas, fights for the rights of asylum seekers, refugees, victims of domestic violence and human trafficking, and immigrants to create a more just world.
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