Return to Tijuana

On Friday, I drove to Tijuana with several colleagues to volunteer at a migrant shelter.  We did consultations with families and individuals.  Some have been deported in the past, some are fleeing persecution and seeking entry to the United States for the first time.  For many who were planning to turn themselves in at the border to request asylum, I had to explain the likelihood that they could be detained for months or years in an immigration detention center.  Their courage was inspiring - so committed were they to making their plea to the U.S. government for safety and asylum, that they were prepared to endure the hardship of detention.  It was my honor to have been a part of this wonderful group of volunteers.

Return to Tijuana

Yesterday, I returned to Tijuana for my second visit to Casa Del Migrante, a shelter that helps recent deportees with no place to go when they arrive in Mexico.  Along with 25 other attorneys, I helped screen more than 80 people for immigration relief.  Buried among many sad stories of families torn apart and lives turned upside down, we found two potential derivative U.S. citizens, as well several people who likely qualify for U visas or may be eligible for humanitarian parole. The work is heart wrenching - it's impossible to imagine the true consequences of deportation until you sit down with someone and see the tears well up in their eyes as they talk about the relatives still in the United States, desperately trying to find a way to cope with the financial and emotional loss of a loved one.  But despite the emotional toll it can take, it's good work.  These people need to understand their legal status, even if the only advice an attorney can give is that they have to stay outside the United States for an extended period of time (often 10 years) before they can start the process of legally immigrating.  Some of them don't even have that option.  My hat is off to my good friend and colleague, Nora Phillips, who organizes these trips, and who is working on a starting a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing legal assistance to deportees.  There is still much work to be done, and she's leading the crusade to do it.