Fragomen Pitches In to Assist Unaccompanied Immigrant Children

The United States is facing an unprecedented refugee crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, with the arrival of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children fleeing abuse and violence in Central America. Many of these children may be eligible for asylum or other lawful immigration status in the United States, but with no right to court-appointed counsel in immigration proceedings, and with a severe shortage of non-profit legal services organizations available to provide representation, the future is bleak for these children unless pro bono attorneys step in. 

Last month, Austin Fragomen, Partner and Chairman of the Firm's Executive Committee, participated in a meeting at the White House, along with leaders of other major law firms, to discuss what the private sector can do to help. In response, the firm has rolled out a national pro bono initiative to provide representation to unaccompanied immigrant children who have been released to family members or into foster care in cities around the country. 

Nationally, the firm will be partnering with Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) to take on cases in seven of the eight cities where KIND has offices: Baltimore, Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, and Washington, DC. Regionally, each U.S. Fragomen office will also work with a trusted local non-profit. For example, the firm's New York office is partnering with New York Law School's Safe Passage Project to screen children who appear in Immigration Court and to represent individual children, and with the City Bar Justice Center to mentor two new Immigrant Justice Fellows who will be taking on a number of new cases. In Phoenix, the firm is working with the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project. In San Diego, the firm is working with the Casa Cornelia Law Center. 

Already, Fragomen attorneys around the country are screening children at juvenile dockets in Immigration Court; holding "Know Your Rights" presentations—in both Spanish and English—for young immigrants held in juvenile detention facilities; staffing pro bono legal clinics; and taking on the direct representation of young people who appear eligible for asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, or other means of immigration relief. 

The firm will also be working with The Safe Passage Project to produce a training manual on the representation of immigrant children, to be co-authored by attorneys from Fragomen and The Safe Passage Project. This book will be made available to pro bono attorneys, law school clinics, non-profit organizations and other interested stakeholders around the country, with the proceeds donated to The Safe Passage Project.