This past June, the Trump administration argued in federal court that detained immigrant children don’t require basic hygiene products (like soap and toothbrushes) to be held in “safe and sanitary” conditions. At the same time, lawyers visiting these children saw them living in “traumatic and dangerous” conditions. Not enough food and water, weeks without bathing, little kids being forced to care for babies. I asked for your help, and you responded.
You Helped Send 150+ Attorneys and Law Students to the Border and Detention Centers.
You helped send more than 150 volunteer lawyers to the front lines of the humanitarian crisis caused by inhumane immigration policies. These volunteers traveled to the border to work with leading organizations on both sides of the border and at remote detention centers. Thanks to you and other supporters who volunteered, helped spread the word, contributed to our Travel Fund, and pledged more than 40 million airline miles to the Project Corazon Airline Miles Travel Bank, we were able to arrange travel directly for volunteers who otherwise couldn't have made the trip.
You Helped Provide Legal Services to 6,000+ Asylum Seekers.
You helped provide tremendous support to non-profit legal organizations working far beyond capacity throughout the border region. By contributing financially, volunteering your time, or supporting our efforts in other ways, you exponentially increase their capacity, both to continue to serve individuals, and to develop new strategies to put an end to inhumane policies. That means you're helping to free people from immigration detention and giving families a fighting chance to win their asylum cases.
Your Generosity Created a Legal Services Clinic for Asylum Seekers in Matamoros.
In July, the cynically named “Migrant Protection Protocols” or “Remain in Mexico” program expanded to the border near Brownsville and Matamoros. This meant that families and individuals seeking asylum began to be summarily processed by Customs and Border Protection and sent back across the border to wait for their asylum trials.
To date, more than 10,000 people have been sent back to Matamoros. They are handed a piece of paper with the names of a few legal service providers and sent on their way. The only catch? The organizations on that list can only help people in Texas (not in Mexico).
When we learned that thousands of families stuck in Matamoros had no way of accessing legal services, we knew we had to act. So we coordinated and paid for a pilot weekend asylum clinic with two goals: (1) help as many asylum-seekers as we could that weekend, and (2) assess the possibility of setting up an ongoing program to provide legal services to migrants in Matamoros. After seeing conditions on the ground with our own eyes, it was clear: We had to do whatever it took to help connect these asylum seekers with legal services.
Volunteer attorney Henriette Vinet-Martin helping a group of migrants in Matamoros with asylum applications during the pilot program in August 2019.
Now, just a few months later, we have two full-time immigration attorneys on the ground. We’ve rented secure office space in Matamoros so we can meet with asylum-seekers in private, off the streets, away from the crowds. We’ve already helped hundreds of people file their asylum applications, and we are starting to represent them in their hearings in the Brownsville tent courts.
Thanks to you, legal assistance is beginning to flow into Matamoros.
L4GG Border Rights Fellow Charlene D’Cruz leading a workshop for more than 200 asylum seekers in Matamoros.
Read more about our program here, including ways you can help.
Thank you for everything you’ve made possible this year.
With gratitude and renewed inspiration for the fight ahead,
Traci Feit Love
President & Executive Director
Lawyers for Good Government Foundation
P.S. We're approaching the end of 2019, and you know what that means. Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be asking you to make a year-end donation to Lawyers For Good Government Foundation to help keep this work going and to expand on it in 2020. We have a generous donor who has offered to match donations up to $50,000 from now until December 31. Can you make a year-end gift today?
