Important Information

Especially for my Texas friends although everyone is welcome. If you qualify on any of these needs, please, consider going. You may also want to check to see if a similar event is happening in your border state. Thanks for reading and considering.

Volunteers neededCenter for Human Rights and Constitutional Law is leading the effort to reunite families, and has been granted 2 days to interview 1000 children being held at Casa Padre facility in Brownsville, Texas, July 12-13.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED on massive scale - please forward to folks you know who are:
- lawyers
- translators/interpreters
- medical and mental health professionals

“From Law Professor Wendi Warren Binford, leading an effort to reunite children separated from their parents when they sought asylum with their families.

The team is being led by Peter Schey of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law.

“We are being given access to the children at Casa Padre in Brownsville, Texas, on July 12-13 and need massive help. Approximately 1,000 children are being held there and we have the right to interview every single one of them under Flores, but we will only have two days and 9-12 hours per day to do so. Every interview takes approximately one hour, which means that we will need approximately sixty attorneys, plus interpreters. We need some interpreters to speak indigenous Central American languages as well as Spanish and other languages around the world (last week our team was looking for a Punjabi speaker while interviewing a child at one of the Border Patrol stations). We also are seeking volunteer pediatric medical and therapeutic professionals who can volunteer to provide support onsite both days.

Almost no private citizens are allowed to meet with these children, but a limited number of attorneys can under Flores and we need more volunteer attorneys on our team in light of the current crisis. If you go to Brownsville (or one of the the other sites where children are being held), you can document who and where these children are, who their parents are, and as much as the children can recall of where and when they were separated from their parents so that we can provide that information to the court and seek their prompt reunification with their families.

There is no travel funding available and all work done is on a volunteer basis. If you cannot help with the visit at Casa Padre on July 12-13, we also will probably need volunteers for visits to the ORR/Southwest Key facilities once those dates are set.

If you are willing and able to volunteer, please contact me at wbinford@willamette.edu and I will help you with paperwork to get your background check started and the introductions you need to possibly be added to the Flores team.”