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Virtual Engagement Session: The Power of International Legal Support to Keep Families Together in the U.S.
Background
The U.S. government’s “zero tolerance” immigration enforcement policy introduced in 2018 applied family separation as a deterrent to undocumented children and families seeking asylum.
Using existing relationships with the legal community in Latin America, the Vance Center quickly responded by launching the Keep Families Together (KFT) initiative. Since then, we have continued galvanizing lawyers worldwide to align with U.S. legal service providers working to protect migrants and asylum seekers. Through KFT’s international network of lawyers, U.S. organizations receive pro bono legal services from law firms in their clients’ home countries, gaining access to supporting documents and materials that are critical for their clients’ applications and cases.
Our Speakers
- Estrellita Alvarado, Safe Repatriation Manager, Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights
- María Isabel Luján, Founding Partner, Alta QIL+4 Abogados
- Claudia Murga, Executive Director, Asociación Pro Bono Guatemala
- Astrid Reyes, Staff Attorney, Human Rights & Access to Justice Program, Vance Center
Key Takeaways
Documentation is critically important for many families arriving in the United States and going through asylum proceedings. It can help provide information to help reunite children with their family members, show evidence of harm that happened to them in their countries of origin, navigate family and welfare systems, obtain travel documents, and much more.
Being able to call on a network of pro bono lawyers on the ground in clients’ home countries makes an enormous difference. This is not just for tracking down this essential information but also providing cultural context and information about legal systems, and even accompanying family members to secure this documentation in person.
This work changes the lives of our clients, children and families, but it also has an incredible positive impact on the lawyers who assist with these cases. Attorneys consistently thank our pro bono partners for the opportunity to participate in this initiative and help their fellow nationals who need these services.
The need for these services is greater than ever. KFT is growing exponentially: by the end of 2024, we expect to receive 100 more requests than we did in 2023. The program is constantly building connections in new countries as it receives requests from new jurisdictions, and has expanded beyond cases of unaccompanied minors to cover a larger range of people in need of these services.
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About Our Work
Through KFT, we work with national and international legal service providers to assist migrants, immigrants, and asylum seekers in the U.S. Thanks to clearinghouse partners in the Pro Bono Network of the Americas and beyond, Keep Families Together operates in partnership with lawyers in more than 30 countries around the globe.
More about Keep Families Together
Your support of the Vance Center will help us maintain this essential program that makes a profound difference in the outcomes of cases, applications, and legal proceedings for immigrants, asylum seekers, and their families. As our speakers said, the need for KFT’s services is only growing and many of our partners are already stretched to the limits of their capacity. More funding will enable us to expand our network and bring in more legal assistance to respond to these urgent requests.