Federal Partnership to Provide Lawyers for Unaccompanied Migrant Children

"The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which administers AmeriCorps, and the Department of Justice today announced "justice AmeriCorps," a strategic partnership to increase national service opportunities while enhancing the effective and efficient adjudication of immigration proceedings involving certain children who have crossed the U.S. Border without a parent or legal guardian. ... The partnership, known as "justice AmeriCorps," is a grant program that will enroll approximately 100 lawyers and paralegals as AmeriCorps members to provide legal services to the most vulnerable of these children, responding to Congress' direction to DOJ's Executive Office for Immigration Review "to better serve vulnerable populations such as children and improve court efficiency through pilot efforts aimed at improving legal representation." In addition, DOJ officials believe the AmeriCorps members will help identify unaccompanied immigrant children who have been victims of human trafficking or abuse to assist in the investigation and prosecution of those who perpetrate such crimes on those children." - EOIR, June 6, 2014.

"The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which operates the AmeriCorps national service program, and the Department of Justice (DOJ), through its Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), are entering into a strategic partnership to increase national service while facilitating the effective and efficient adjudication of immigration proceedings involving certain children who have crossed the border without a parent or legal guardian. The program will serve children in the immigration court locations where grants are awarded, and will be limited to children under the age of 16 who are not in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement or the Department of Homeland Security; who have received a notice to appear in removal proceedings before an immigration court; and have not had their cases consolidated with removal proceedings against a parent or legal guardian. Programs must be located in Arlington, VA; Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; Bloomington, MN; Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; Cleveland, OH; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Detroit, MI; El Paso, TX; Hartford, CT; Kansas City, MO; Las Vegas, NV; Memphis, TN; Miami, FL; New Orleans, LA; New York, NY; Newark, NJ; Omaha, NE; Orlando, FL; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Portland, OR; San Antonio, TX; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; and Seattle, WA." - CNCS, June 6, 2014.