CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project
The Catholic Legal Immigration Network, the American Immigration Council, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, collectively known as CARA, have joined forces in response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) significant expansion of its family detention at the South Texas Family Residential Center (STFRC) and the Karnes Residential Center. The continued detention of families reflect the Obama administration’s ongoing persistence to preserve the flawed deterrence policy it began in June 2014 with the opening of a temporary family detention center in Artesia, New Mexico.
The detention of children and their mothers is not only inhumane, but incompatible with a fair and just legal process. The CARA project builds on the collective experiences of the partners by organizing and managing a robust pro bono legal services project to help the families detained in Dilley and Karnes. CARA’s aim is twofold: to ensure that detained children and their mothers receive competent, pro bono representation and to end the practice of family detention entirely by leading aggressive advocacy and litigation efforts to challenge unlawful asylum, detention, and deportation policies.
{via American Immigration Lawyers Association}
Hello,
My name is Joel. I just read the beautiful work you are doing to help families. I am a retired teacher and professor in Massachusetts living now in Haiti. I would love to help with translation and possibly come to Texas to help the families and the children. Please let me know when you want my help. I can pay for my flight. This is heartbreaking.
I sent a letter to crystal@caraprobono.org
Joel Theodat
jtheodat@gmail.com.
crystal@caraprobono.org
Hi Joel,
Thank you for your email. We’ll put you in touch with Cara ProBono in a separate email.
Best,
The WAF team
The work being done by the CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project is absolutely crucial, and it’s heartbreaking to think about the conditions many families face in detention centers. It’s easy to get caught up in political debates about immigration, but at the core of it all, we’re talking about real people—many of them women and children—who are fleeing dangerous situations and just trying to find safety.
The fact that so many of these families don’t have legal representation is terrifying. Immigration law is incredibly complex, and without a lawyer, the chances of being able to successfully navigate the system are slim. It’s amazing that organizations like CARA are stepping up to provide free legal aid, but it’s frustrating that this kind of support is even necessary. Access to legal help shouldn’t be a privilege—it should be a right, especially for people in such vulnerable situations.
The personal stories in the article really hit hard. It’s one thing to hear about immigration issues in the news, but reading about the real struggles and fears these families face makes it so much more real.