Tag: Central America

BR Attorneys Lobby the Administration and Congress to End Family Detention

Posted by
April 27, 2015
Once a year immigration attorneys from all over the country march to Washington, D.C. to meet with their elected officials and to encourage them to take action toward fixing this country’s broken immigration system. The event is organized by the American Immigration Lawyers Association and is appropriately called the National Day of Action. This year, one of the issues we put on the list of things to discuss is family detention.

Injunction Against the Dysfunction of Family Detention

Posted by
February 23, 2015
Injunction Against the Dysfunction of Family Detention Artesia. Karnes. Dilley.  Before the administration decided it would be a great idea to lock up Central American women and children fleeing from persecution, these towns were unknown.   Artesia was the hometown of our government’s rejuvenation of family detention.  The makeshift facility, warmly referred to by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) as the Artesia Family Residential Center, was the hub of so many human rights violations that it was ultimately shut down. 

Kira and Ricky, Clients of the Month, January 2015

Posted by
January 1, 2015
Kira and Ricky, Clients of the Month, January 2015 At a time of year when we honor togetherness and fresh starts, we are comforted to know that Benach Collopy clients, Kira and her four-year-old son Ricky, have finally been granted asylum and are reunited with their husband/father, Andre, here in the United States.* This family of faith was torn apart by targeted and systematic violence at the hands of the M-18 gang, the de facto government in Guatemala, all because they preached about peace and encouraged non-violence in their community – in the eyes of the M-18, a message of disloyalty and dissidence that needed to be eradicated.

FOBR Heidi Altman of the Capital Area Immigrants Rights Coalition Sets the Politicians Right on the Children

Posted by
July 16, 2014
FOBR Heidi Altman of the Capital Area Immigrants Rights Coalition Sets the Politicians Right on the Children We have had lots to say about the children seeking refuge in the United States.  Yet, once again, our poor power to add or detract has become apparent in light of this brilliant piece by Friend of Benach Collopy (FOBR) Heidi Altman, Legal Director of the Capital Area Immigrant Rights Coalition.  The CAIR Coalition has been providing legal services to unaccompanied children in Virginia for several years and the fierce and lovely staff there knows all too well the motivations that drive children to leave their homes in Central America.