Important Announcement: VECINA is relaunching the ReUnite Project and expanding our work to protect immigrant family unity through our new Family Integrity Project.
On May 31st, 2025, VECINA was forced to hibernate our ReUnite Project, but our work has not stopped! Over the past year, we have worked hard to follow significant policy shifts at the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), monitored trends in family separation, supported a limited number of families on a case-by-case basis, and launched habeas representation for separated families. With all this in mind, we have been busy talking to our supporters about investing in this critical work.
If you are a sister organization, please keep your eyes peeled for announcements about client referrals. If you are a community member or family looking for support, we will be updating our website soon with further information about ReUnite, new services, and intake processes. We will also be looking for dedicated volunteers to support our Family Integrity Project moving forward and look forward to connecting with our network!
To those of you who have supported or collaborated with ReUnite in the past, we look forward to continued collaboration. We are deeply grateful to the hundreds of dedicated ReUnite volunteers, partners, donors, and supporters who have made this work possible over the last five years. Thank you for standing with us and with immigrant families.
Breaking Barriers, Reuniting Families, Restoring Hope
What is the Family Integrity Project?
With the support of new funders and partners, VECINA is building from our existing ReUnite Project, further detailed below, to launch our Family Integrity Project. With renewed vigor, VECINA is excited to push forward more holistic support programs to prevent the separation of immigrant and mixed status families and fight to reunify families impacted by immigration enforcement.
Our Family Integrity Project will have four main pillars, each described in further detail below:
- ReUnite Project – Facilitating the reunification of detained immigrant children with their family members and caregivers by coordinating with pro bono attorneys, legal service providers, and community partners, and supporting navigation of the reunification process.
- Family Preparedness & Risk Mitigation – Providing families and communities with accessible information, education and planning tools to help mitigate the risk of family separation, paired with wrap-around support services for certain separated families, based on capacity.
- Navigation & Resource Mapping – Identifying, mapping, and strengthening access to legal, social, and community based resources, while building referral pathways that help families and frontline providers navigate a complex and fragmented system.
- Training & Capacity Building – Equipping attorneys, advocates, and community partners with the knowledge, tools, and mentorship needed to support families navigating reunification and separation, expanding the capacity of the broader field.
What is the ReUnite Project?
VECINA’s ReUnite Project originally launched in 2021, to respond to increases in the detention of unaccompanied children at the border. Since its launch, the landscape has evolved significantly and our mandate has evolved to respond to this shifting reality. The ReUnite Project was the first national project of its kind, facilitating the swift release and reunification of detained unaccompanied immigrant children, by providing support and representation to children’s family members and caregivers, known as “Sponsors”.
Unaccompanied children who have been apprehended by U.S. immigration authorities are placed into grim, overcrowded detention facilities operated by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Many of these children do have family members in the United States, or other trusted caregivers, ready and willing to support them. Without ReUnite’s services, most of these Sponsors would have no help navigating the reunification process, leading to the prolonged detention of the children they love. Now this help is more important than ever. Barriers to reunification – including new documentation, home visit, and forensic requirements, along with direct targeting of Sponsors by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and ORR – leave children languishing in government custody and put their loved ones at risk. When children’s Sponsors do not have adequate support in the reunification process, many children spend weeks or months in ORR custody, and some children are detained for more than a year.
With no other non-profit representing Sponsors at scale, the ReUnite Project addresses a critical gap in existing legal service infrastructure. Most Sponsors are marginalized, economically disadvantaged, and would not be able to access legal support without the ReUnite Project. Through ReUnite, we aim to ensure that Sponsors receive the legal support and advocacy they need to navigate the complex reunification process and overcome systemic barriers. As these barriers continue to increase, VECINA has pushed the fight for children’s release from custody into federal court, with pro bono representation for habeas petitions.
By prioritizing family unity and leveraging our expertise and extensive network of volunteers, ReUnite works to expedite the release of children from detention and place them with trusted family members or other loved ones in the U.S. This innovative approach not only aligns with principles of justice, but also contributes to the broader goal of improving outcomes for families seeking life-saving protections in the U.S.. Through targeted advocacy and direct legal support, ReUnite is committed to upholding the rights of children in ORR facilities and their sponsors.
Family Preparedness & Risk Mitigation
Family separation is the unfortunate consequence of many immigration enforcement policies and trends, across administrations. While our ReUnite project focuses on family reunification for Sponsors of children detained in ORR custody, there are many other reasons that immigrant and mixed status families are torn apart or at risk of separation. Our Family Preparedness Project aims to support families who are at risk of family separation through various tools:
- Community engagement events – providing critical general information in public or online forums related to risk of family separation as well as strategies for family preparedness planning.
- Intakes – 1:1 risk assessment intakes and planning for families at high risk of family separation.
- Pro-bono placement – 1:1 or clinic setting pro bono support for family preparedness or family reunification advocacy following family separation.
- Navigation & Resource Mapping – Identifying, mapping, and strengthening access to legal, social, and community based resources, while building referral pathways that help families and frontline providers navigate a complex and fragmented system.
Training & Capacity Building
At VECINA we have made a name for ourselves in training, mentorship, and technical assistance across our projects. Our Family Integrity Project is no different. As we develop programs we will continue to innovate in developing and delivering effective training and support infrastructure to support volunteers and practitioners alike –equipping attorneys, advocates, and community partners with the knowledge, tools, and mentorship needed to support families navigating reunification and separation, expanding the capacity of the broader field.
Impact
Since VECINA launched the ReUnite Project in March of 2021, we have assisted more than 1,500 unaccompanied immigrant children – many of whom have fled persecution and horrific violence in their countries of origin – with family reunification. Through our efforts and the generosity of our donors and volunteers, we have assisted families from 31 countries, speaking 29 different languages, in reuniting and beginning the journey toward healing together.
Get Involved
Explore the ways to get involved with our initiative below, or contact our Family Integrity Project team at family@vecina.org with any questions.