Detained Children:
ABA Grants for Legal Help
Children detained alone without their family members need legal counsel, family reunification and improved the treatment while in custody. The INS detains more than 4,600 children annually nationwide. These children can be detained for months and even years for complex immigration proceedings while their cases are on appeal.
The American Bar Association Immigration Pro Bono Development and Bar Activation Project has awarded $5,000 grants to the following organizations and their partnering nonprofit agencies for providing legal services to immigrant and refugee children.
- Arizona Bar Foundation, and Florence Immigration & Refugee Rights Project
- Chicago Bar Association Young Lawyers Section, and Midwest Immigrant & Human Rights Center Heartland Alliance
- Atlanta Bar Association, and Catholic Social Services, Inc.
- Berks County Bar Association, and Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center
- Beverly Hills Bar Association, and Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.
The grants are part of a nationwide effort to encourage comprehensive pro bono representation programs for the vulnerable constituency of immigrant and refugee children detained alone without their family members by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Under the auspices of the Immigration Pro Bono Development and Bar Activation Project, the awardees will work to safeguard the children's right to counsel and meaningful legal assistance, ensuring that they have access to and assistance from counsel while in detention and in immigration proceedings. They will also facilitate the prompt family reunification of children in detention and work to create strategies for solutions to improve the treatment of children in INS custody for immigration proceedings.
More Information
