A Houston-area nonprofit is continuing its work assisting unaccompanied immigrant children despite a recent federal order that temporarily halted legal aid services. The Galveston-Houston Immigration Representation Project (GHIRP) has vowed to support vulnerable minors, many of whom have been separated from their families or abandoned, as legal uncertainty looms.
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The Galveston-Houston Immigration Representation Project (GHIRP) is still committed to helping unaccompanied children, even though the federal government has recently cut back on immigration-related legal services. The charity, which allows kids from 6 to 17 with legal issues, would keep working even before the federal government lifted an order that stopped groups from helping these kids.
The Acacia Center for Justice was told to stop providing its services last Tuesday because it has a central contract with the Office of Refugee Resettlement's Unaccompanied Children Program. But by Friday, the center was permitted to start working again after many people were worried about how it would affect foreign children.
Alexa Sendukas, head attorney for GHIRP, stressed that protecting these kids is the right thing to do. Many of them have run away from dangerous situations or been left by their families. "We owe our clients something." Sendukas said, "We can't and won't leave them."
Supporting unaccompanied children is also very important for groups in Houston, like Catholic Charities and the YMCA. Because of President Trump's order to stop the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, Catholic Charities had to lay off almost a quarter of its workers last week.
This fiscal year, Texas has sent more than 2,000 unaccompanied children to sponsors. By 2024, that number will have risen to over 13,000. Even though the brief stop in services has been lifted, advocates say that the trouble shows how dangerous things are for immigrant children. Sendukas stressed that these breaks cause confusion and make it easier for exploitative adults to take advantage of weaker children.
