Breaking Barriers, Reuniting Families, Restoring Hope
Thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children are currently detained in the United States in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, waiting to be reunited with a family member or other loved one (known as a “sponsor”) who is willing to receive them into their home. Through VECINA’s ReUnite project, we assist these sponsors in securing the release of their children from the U.S. government custody by helping them navigate the release and reunification process. VECINA is recruiting volunteers to help sponsors with paperwork, gather supporting documents, provide interpretation, and advocate for the release of a child. Join a team to help reunite a family!
Project Background
When unaccompanied immigrant children are apprehended by immigration officials after entering the U.S., they are transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), where they remain until they have been approved for release to a viable “sponsor” in the U.S. The sponsors, who are family members or other loved ones of the children, must undergo a rigorous vetting process, which can be confusing and frightening to navigate alone. Most unaccompanied children have a family member in the U.S. who can receive them, and for nearly half of these children, the family member is their biological parent. Many of these children have entered the U.S. after fleeing violence and persecution in their countries of origin.
The majority of unaccompanied minors are held in ORR shelters, but in times of influx, they are often held in Emergency Intake Sites — large, warehouse-like facilities — that are not appropriate or safe for children, and where staff are not equipped or trained to properly care for them or manage their release process. The suffering that these already-traumatized children experience in custody compounds each day that they are detained.
In the midst of the largest influx of unaccompanied minors to date in the spring of 2021, VECINA launched the ReUnite project with the aim of helping the loved ones of detained unaccompanied children seek their release and reunite with them more quickly. These sponsors would contact VECINA to inform us that they needed help with the reunification process, and through ReUnite, we would assign a team to assist them, generally consisting of a pro bono attorney, an administrative support volunteer, and an interpreter.
As the influx of 2021 subsided, we began to receive ReUnite referrals that were more complex than the cases we originally placed, which usually followed a similar pattern. Now, most of the cases we place are of sponsors who are struggling with the reunification process because they are experiencing particular barriers. Some sponsors do not receive the necessary interpretation services from the government in their language. Others may struggle to complete all of the documentation requirements. Others may have been denied the release of their child for reasons that are not in line with government policy. In all of these cases, ReUnite is there to help sponsors overcome the barriers to a successful reunification.
In some instances, ReUnite assists with cases where an unaccompanied minor has yet to enter the U.S., but has a quickly-approaching entry date. In these cases, ReUnite’s pro bono teams work with the child’s intended sponsor to help them complete as much of the reunification paperwork as possible in advance of the child’s entry, with the aim of submitting the paperwork to the government right away once the child is detained to reduce the amount of time the child spends in custody.
To date, ReUnite has provided reunification and post-release support to over 1,400 unaccompanied children from 31 countries, speaking 29 different languages. ReUnite is the only program in the United States that provides pro bono legal assistance to sponsors to help them secure the release of detained unaccompanied minors.
Current Need
While the precise number of cases we will receive is somewhat unpredictable due to the ever-changing immigration landscape, we want to be as prepared as possible to meet family reunification needs as they arise.
We are currently in need of volunteer interpreters in languages other than Spanish. We are very fortunate to already have many volunteer Spanish interpreters lined up to help with these cases, and we are grateful to have a good number of volunteer attorneys and administrative support volunteers in our queue as well.
With the recent presidential election results and likely changes ahead to policies targeting immigrant families, we anticipate that we will need to reopen our volunteer opportunities to additional attorneys, administrative support volunteers, and Spanish interpreters in the coming months. Please make sure to check back with us, as we will continue to update this page as our volunteer needs evolve.
Thank you for your understanding!
Click here to learn more about each volunteer role.
This opportunity is entirely remote! As a reminder, work with this project is on a volunteer basis. This is not a paid opportunity.
Time Commitment and Case Length
Each volunteer can expect to spend approximately 8-10 hours over the duration of a ReUnite case, which includes the ~1.5 hour online training and the case work. Each case can last anywhere from a week to a few months, depending on the complexity of the case. Because these cases involve detained children, it is important for volunteers to work as efficiently as possible on their cases. Once we place a case with a team of volunteers, we ask that volunteers contact the client within 24 hours to begin working on the case, given that these cases involve detained children and time is of the essence.
Training and Mentorship from VECINA
VECINA offers a ~1.5 hour online family reunification course to prepare volunteers for this opportunity. It is expected that each volunteer will complete this course prior to beginning a case. We also provide a detailed list of suggested action items that are customized for each case so the volunteers have a roadmap to follow throughout their case. We provide resources such as templates, FAQs, and ORR policy guidance. Additionally VECINA staff check in with volunteer teams throughout their case are available to provide technical support for any questions or issues that arise. It is NOT necessary to have any background in immigration law to volunteer with this project.
Getting Started
We are looking to have our new volunteers sign up and take the training as soon as possible so you are ready to dive in when we have a case to place with you. To get started, please complete the sign-up form below. Once you submit the form, you will be linked to our volunteer agreement and our online course for the project. You must sign the agreement and complete the online course before beginning a case, so please try to work through these items as quickly as possible so you’re ready to go!
Take a look!
- You can hear some of our volunteers speak about their ReUnite experiences here:
- Volunteer attorney Adriana Gomez
- Volunteer interpreter Bartolome Canellas
- Volunteer admin support/interpreter Victoria McCullough
- Volunteer attorney Linh Tran Flores
- Volunteer attorney Shyaam Subramanian
- Volunteer attorney Maria Calderon
- Watch a client reunite with her two young grandchildren in the airport after her ReUnite volunteer team helped secure their release from government custody.
- Watch another young child reunite with his grandmother after a ReUnite team worked on this reunification case. The two were separated at the border by immigration officials.
- Watch the reunification of this young child and his mother. Thanks to the efforts of one of VECINA’s pro bono ReUnite teams, the two were reunited just before Mother’s Day.
- Read this Time Magazine article featuring a ReUnite story.
Questions?
Anyone who has questions about this volunteer opportunity is welcome to contact ReUnite Project Director Molly Chew at molly@vecina.org.
Thank you again for volunteering! We look forward to working with you on this project!
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