ABA Offers Opportunities for Attorneys to Help at the Border
The ABA Commission on Immigration offers several opportunities to members who want to help at the border, including through ProBAR, which provides legal information, pro se assistance and pro bono representation to adults and unaccompanied children in immigration detention. ProBAR is currently looking for Spanish-speaking attorneys to volunteer for an extended period of one month or more, as well as attorneys who can represent clients in removal proceedings and be physically present at all meetings and hearings.
Attorneys can also volunteer with the commission’s Immigration Justice Project. It provides pro bono legal services to indigent immigrants and asylum-seekers who appear before the San Diego immigration court and in appeals. The 2019 weeklong volunteer trips are full, but attorneys can ask to be placed on the waiting list or volunteer on their own time.
The Commission on Immigration has sponsored the hotline for detainees since 2002. The number is programmed into the free calling list and posted next to telephones in more than 200 Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities where people wait for immigration proceedings. Law clerks and interns—which include law students, recent law school graduates, undergraduates and occasionally lawyers—answer calls and provide detainees with information on how the immigration court system works and what legal relief is available.
For pro bono attorneys and legal services providers who represent children in immigration proceedings in Texas, the Commission on Immigration offers the Children’s Immigration Law Academy. It is based in Houston and provides training, technical assistance and collaboration opportunities.
The ABA is also accepting donations to support free legal services at the border through its Working Group on Unaccompanied Minor Immigrants and Migrant Children and Family Initiative. The most up-to-date resources from across the ABA can be found here.
KJ