The Counsel for Children Initiative (CCI) was passed as part of the new Access EOIR Initiative under the US Department of Justice on September 28. The Counsel for Children Initiative provides legal representation to unaccompanied immigrant children who must attend an immigration court proceeding. The eight courts have represented children in are: Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland.

There are still children in south Texas that have not been reunited with their parents or guardians. In 2021 there was a surge of unaccompanied migrants which led to an increase of children in detention centers or shelters. The conditions of many of those detention centers were very unfavorable or are still very unfavorable. While CCI is working to offer more children legal representation, not all unaccompanied children have access to those resources.

We are encouraging people to sign this petition and to raise awareness that while this bill is making progress there are still a lot of underrepresented and unaccompanied children in court alone. We hope to call for some expansion on this initiative and that ALL children will have representation in court and not have to face that difficulty alone.

For More Information Visit: https://www.justice.gov/eoir/pr/eoir-announces-access-eoir-initiative