By Syra Ortiz Blanes, Nora Gámez Torres, and Ana Ceballos “Jennifer Anzardo Valdes, director of the Children’s Legal Program at Americans for Immigrant Justice, said the nonprofit law firm has represented more unaccompanied Cuban children this year. They include teenagers between 16 and 18, although they also have younger clients. Some have come to reunite with family already living in …

“Another organization that filed a complaint with DHS, Americans for Immigrant Justice, provided exclusive data compiled from screenings of more than 2,300 children detained by CBP last year. Half of them described ‘cold temperatures’ in holding facilities, nearly a third said they were held for longer than the 72 hours allowed under the law, and around 15 percent reported ‘lack …

Five years after being separated under Trump’s 2017 Family Separation pilot program, our client “Ana” and her father have finally been reunited in the United States!  Ana was just two years old and non-verbal when she and her father entered the US. After the pair was detained, Ana’s father – her sole living parent – was suddenly separated from the …

“Immigrant advocates in the United States filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denouncing the continuing abuse and ‘appalling treatment’ of immigrant children, Americans for Immigrant Justice (AI Justice) reported Thursday. The humanitarian group lamented that the irregularities reported by 70% of the children they interviewed in 2021 continue, who ‘reported experiencing conditions or abuse’ while in …

For Immediate ReleaseContact: [email protected] Miami, FL (April 7, 2022) – Yesterday, Americans for Immigrant Justice (AI Justice) filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) detailing patterns of abuse and mistreatment of immigrant children in CBP custody at the southern border. The complaint was filed concurrently with federal complaints by other immigration advocacy organizations – Kids …

April 6, 2022 Americans for Immigrant Justice (AI Justice), on behalf of their clients, submit this administrative complaint to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detailing Customs and Border Protection (CBP)’s failure to adhere to their own standards on the Transport, Escort, Detention and Search (TEDS)1 of Unaccompanied Children (UC) as well as their failure to comply with the terms …

December 20, 2021 Governor DeSantis: The 73 undersigned experts in child welfare and well-being write to you with alarm regarding your September 28 Executive Order and the state’s subsequent December 10 emergency rule related to unaccompanied children who reside in group homes and with foster families in Florida. As organizations based in Florida and around the country, we urge you …

Published August 26, 2021 For most of 2020, children arriving alone at our border were expelled in violation of a federal law requiring that they have their day in court before removal. On February 2, 2021 the Biden administration reversed that directive and our local ORR facilities are once again filling up with children in need of legal services. Below are …

By Sarah Stillman, The New Yorker “Maria, in Miami, knows that her fate depends, in part, on how quickly Biden transforms asylum policy. Noemi Samuel Del Rosario, a lawyer at Americans for Immigrant Justice, which is working with the Door to fight Maria’s removal, told me that she hopes Biden will go further than ending the Migrant Protection Protocols; he …

By Teo Armus, The Washington Post “‘My head hurt and it burned for a good while. I thought this country was decent but after this happened, I felt horrible,’ said Eduardo, according to a report published on Friday by Americans for Immigrant Justice, a nonprofit legal organization in Miami. ‘I would never wish this on another kid that passes through there.’ …

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  October 30, 2020 Contact: Jennifer Anzardo Valdes, [email protected] MIAMI, FL – During the past decade, tens of thousands of children have made the difficult decision to flee their countries and seek protection here. They are fleeing vicious gang violence, rape and other horrific abuses, many seeing flight as the only way to survive. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is …

A father and son who were separated at the U.S. border when seeking asylum sued the federal government Friday, slamming the Trump administration’s policies as “barbaric” and a “brutal intimidation tactic.”

By Monique O. Madan, The Miami Herald “Jennifer Anzardo Valdez, the program director for the Children’s Law Program at Americans for Immigrant Justice, a Florida non-profit immigration organization representing Miami’s most at-risk communities, is on the staff’s legal team charged with analyzing the administration’s new work-permit rules. She says the ‘rules are designed to keep asylum seekers not just from …

Elena was 15 years old when she married her husband who was physically, sexually and emotionally abusive to her. After over a year of extreme suffering, she was finally able to escape his control. Elena reported her husband to the police in Guatemala and was granted several orders of protection, however her husband violated the orders and continued to abuse …

By Spencer S. Hsu, The Washington Post A federal judge ruled Thursday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has unlawfully transferred thousands of unaccompanied children who turned 18 to adult detention facilities without considering alternatives, in violation of a 2013 law. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras of Washington, D.C., said he will order changes “in the near future” after a …

“Tommy” lost his mother at a young age and Tommy’s father never provided him regular care or supervision. Tommy’s father left him after his mother passed away and the child was left in the care of his grandmother. Tommy was terrified that gangs were going to kill him as they had killed his boss for refusing to pay a “war …

En 2013, Cheryl Little fue honrada con el Premio David Lawrence Champion for Children por The Children’s Trust de Miami-Dade por su vida de logros y dedicación a los niños.

After years of physical abuse by his father, Alfredo fled Guatemala to save his life at age 14. He was detained by Immigration agents on arrival in 2001 and diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among other special needs. He only spoke a rare Mayan dialect, limiting his ability to communicate. Alfredo was transferred among detention facilities 10 times, at …

AI Justice, junto con su socio desde hace mucho tiempo, la Clínica Legal de Justicia Infantil para Inmigrantes de FIU, presentó un informe ante el Tribunal de Menores en el Undécimo Circuito en nombre de dos niños inmigrantes que habían sufrido terribles abusos y amenazas por parte de su padre y otros miembros de la familia y cuyas vidas fueron …

Five year old Alfonso was found screaming, alone in his apartment after his mother had been deported. His father was incarcerated and with no other family that could be located, he was placed in foster care in Miami Dade County. His foster mother, Tamara, decided to legally adopt him. Because Alfonso had been found alone, and was so young, he …

Seven-year-old Fega arrived at a New York airport in May 2000. A terrible rash covered her body, along with other signs of neglect. No one came to pick her up. Her mother, undocumented and scared, sent a note to immigration officials asking them to send Fega back to Nigeria. But her father in Nigeria said he did not want her …

El programa AI Justice’s Children recibió el Premio inaugural de defensa de los niños de Paul Doyle (segundo finalista) de la Florida Bar Foundation en un concurso estatal. La gerente del programa, Michelle Abarca, aceptó el premio en una ceremonia en Orlando.

ACTUALIZACIÓN DEL ESTADO 1 de abril de 2020 Por: Tim Henderson Temas: Negocios del gobierno, salud e inmigración Tiempo de lectura: 6 min Eric Gay / The Associated Press Lea la cobertura Stateline de la última acción estatal sobre coronavirus. A medida que se desarrolla la crisis COVID-19, la administración Trump ha revertido las protecciones establecidas desde hace mucho tiempo …

El equipo del Programa de Niños fue coautor del artículo, “El ABC de representar a niños no acompañados”, para su publicación en la Asociación Americana de Abogados de Inmigración (AILA), Punteros de práctica de inmigración, (Edición 2011-12).

AI Justice abogó con éxito por la mejora del tratamiento de los menores no acompañados detenidos, incluida la creación en 2004 de un expediente judicial separado de Miami para casos de niños. Antes de esto, todos los casos de niños se escucharon en el centro de detención de adultos de Krome. Los niños transportados allí debían esperar afuera al sol …

Javier and Dennis, twin brothers from Honduras, made their way to the border alone. Traveling mostly on foot, the boys ran out of food and water during their journey and were forced to drink water from contaminated streams. The brothers undertook this dangerous trip because it seemed their only chance of survival. Abandoned by their parents and raised by violent …

La defensa de AI Justice fue una voz importante en la transferencia de autoridad de 2002 para el cuidado y colocación de niños detenidos del Servicio de Inmigración y Naturalización a la Oficina de Reasentamiento de Refugiados. El INS había desempeñado anteriormente la doble función de estar a cargo de la detención y deportación de estos niños y de ser …

When Oscar was a boy in Honduras, his parents operated a small computer repair shop and restaurant. The infamous MS-13 Gang ran rampant in the area, and they repeatedly extorted “protection” money from Oscar’s parents. What they paid was never enough. One day, the gang killed Oscar’s father. A few months later, Oscar and his mother watched in horror as …

Pierre is a 12 year old Haitian child. During his short life, Pierre experienced years of abuse and has been repeatedly abandoned. Shortly after his father’s death, his mother placed four-year-old Pierre and his sisters in an orphanage. The massive earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010 damaged the orphanage, and, as a result, Pierre was sent into the United States …

El equipo legal de los niños ha presentado en numerosas conferencias sobre los derechos de los niños inmigrantes no acompañados y las opciones de alivio de inmigración, incluida la convocatoria nacional de la Asociación Americana de Abogados, la Asociación Nacional de Abogados para Niños y la Asociación Americana de Abogados de Inmigración.

Susana grew up in Guatemala. Her abusive father abandoned the family when Susana was four, and her mother left when Susana was five to seek work in the U.S. because the family was living in poverty. Raised by her grandparents, Susana’s difficult childhood became an even more traumatic adolescence. Violent gang members preyed on the community, and Susana was repeatedly …