Immigration Law Trip to the Border

I have been accepted by The Dilley Pro Bono Project  to provide volunteer legal services to asylum seekers being held in southern Texas. During the first week of December 2019, I will travel about an hour outside of San Antonio, to one of the nation’s largest detention centers housing women and children asylum seekers to serve as a volunteer attorney.

Our cohort of volunteers will go through a training bootcamp on Sunday and then work 12-18 hour days accompanying women and children to credible and reasonable fear interviews, providing representation in custody redetermination hearings before the Immigration Judge, and supporting administrative appeals to the Asylum Office.

You can be part of my trip to Dilley in the following ways:

1. Sign up to be an ‘on-call’ translator, especially if you speak Spanish or another language fluently. This is so vital. We are allowed to make calls from within the detention center, and your translation skills could be critical to helping a family understand the process and communicate their request for asylum.  Please sign up to translate here: https://i8s.us/translation1 

2. Make a contribution to cover expenses related to the trip including airfare, accommodations, and transport for the week– estimated at $1,500– via GoFundMe  or Venmo (@neetalparekh). ** note: have updated the amount to $1,000 as we were able to carpool and share other resources which helped lower my expenses.

3. Share your candid questions about the immigration situation at detention camps at the border. I will try to create podcast episodes or blog posts that share my experience and to address your queries.  Share your questions here: https://i8s.us/bordertripquestions 

Thank you to the attorneys, firms, legal aid organizations, mentors, and friends who have guided and supported my exploration of ways to use my background in law to help families, and especially children, at the border. 

And thank you, to each of you, for supporting and being part of this experience. I created this page so that we could take this trip together in a way and as a reminder that we do not walk difficult paths alone, but united in solidarity.

In all good things, #goanddo

Warmly,
Neetal


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