American Bar Association President Deborah Enix-Ross spent most of her first full week in office volunteering to help asylum seekers who are escaping violence in their home countries and trying to find protection in the United States.
Enix-Ross spent four days at the ABA South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project – better known as ProBAR – in Harlingen, Texas, near the border with Mexico.
The new ABA president, who took office on August 9, spent part of her time preparing an asylum application for a 19-year-old Nicaraguan man who suffered persecution as an ethnic minority in his home country and is being held in U.S. custody. She also visited La Posada Providencia, a temporary refugee shelter for asylum seekers and other immigrants in nearby San Benito, Texas, run by the Sisters of Divine Providence. Later, she visited a temporary immigration court operating under a tent in Brownsville, where the cases of migrants in the Remain in Mexico program have been adjudicated.
Enix-Ross was part of a group of volunteer lawyers who traveled to Texas for several days of pro bono service, including former ABA President Bob Carlson; Dora Schriro, a special adviser to the ABA Commission on Immigration; and Bonnie Fought, a member of the commission’s Advisory Committee.
“Most lawyers I know entered the profession to help others,” Enix-Ross said. “For me, volunteering at the border feels like the purest form of lawyering. I don’t do it to advance my career or to make money. I do it because there are so many here who have been through so much, and I know I can make their lives just a little bit better. That’s incredibly satisfying.”
ProBAR is one of two ABA programs that provide free, direct services to immigrants and asylum seekers who cannot find or afford legal help. The other is the Immigration Justice Project in San Diego. The commission also operates the Children’s Immigration Law Academy in Houston, a legal resource center for lawyers and advocates who serve unaccompanied children.
Last year, ProBAR provided Know Your Rights presentations to 25,287 detained unaccompanied children and to 832 detained adult immigrants and asylum seekers.
The ABA Commission on Immigration offers many opportunities for lawyers to volunteer their services to help people in need. Nearly every state has immigrants and asylum seekers who need legal assistance. Prior experience in immigration law is not necessary as the commission provides training and mentorship to any lawyer who wishes to volunteer.
