Support Central American Kids in SD

The time is now for us to come together and change the lives of nearly 300 children in South Dakota! Nearly 300 Unaccompanied Minors from Central America have been released to sponsors in South Dakota and more are on their way with the crisis at our border.  And nearly a dozen families separated at the border have been reunified with their children and are currently living in SD.

ALL of these children and families are in immigration court proceedings. Children have no right to a lawyer in immigration court. 90% of children without a lawyer will be sent back to the horrid conditions they fled. 60% of children who have a lawyer will be able to stay in the United States lawfully with a path to citizenship.  

The average bill to take one of these complicated cases is $8000! Immigration court is located in Bloomington, MN - a 4 hour drive from Sioux Falls, 6 hours for Huron, and 9 hours for Rapid City! Not one of these children can work, pay this fee, and even getting to immigration court can be a great hurdle.  There are no organizations in SD that provide these services. 

We can change that now.

100% of your donation will go directly to a new nonprofit initiative called Hand in Hand: Justice for Immigrant Children, to hire a lawyer, support staff and build support services for these children. Hand in Hand is a new initiative of South Dakota Voices for Peace and is building a new statewide volunteer alliance to support immigrants in our community to assure services are coordinated throughout the state.

My name is Taneeza Islam. I am a mom,  immigration lawyer, and executive director of South Dakota Voices for Peace. We started SDVFP to fill the immigration advocacy and service void in this state.  We have engaged in advocacy work since January 2017, formally incorporated as a nonprofit with the state of SD in October 2017, and have a fiscal sponsor - Spirit of Peace United Church of Christ.  All donations made are tax deductible.  For more information about Hand in Hand visit www.handinhandsd.org  For more information about South Dakota Voices for Peace see our facebook page "South Dakota Voices for Peace" and website at www.sdvfpeace.org

Thank you for giving a voice to children and families.