and children are traveling the most
dangerous migration corridor in
the world alone because there’s no
safer solution.”
Besides providing representa-
tion, the NIJC also works on impact
litigation and policy reform, focusing
on obtaining due process for individ-
uals seeking legal status. The center
also places substantial emphasis on
public education.
“We’re not going to be able to
represent everyone; we have limited
resources and the need is way beyond
what we could ever respond to,” says
McCarthy. “So we work on making
caring, compassionate US citizens
aware of the issues, and we engage
Congress and attorneys to work to
build an immigration system that re-
spects due process and human rights.”
McCarthy spent two years as a
community organizer in Chile under
the Pinochet dictatorship, an experi-
ence that led her to law school, then
pro bono representation, and finally
to full-time work at an organization
that became the NIJC. “Living in Chile
opened my eyes about how people
suffer when they don’t have access to
basic human, civil, and political rights,”
she says. “I came back to the US com-
mitted to work that helps safeguard
the rights of all people.”
A best-interest
standard
The many threads of Maria
Woltjen’s (JD ’87) public interest ex-
perience wove together when she
launched the Young Center for Im-
migrant Children’s Rights, a national
initiative that advocates for unaccom-
panied immigrant children detained
by the federal government.
Early in her career at a Chicago
law firm, she did substantial pro bono
work for the Lawyers’ Committee for
Civil Rights Under Law. She eventu-
ally joined the Lawyers’ Committee
and directed its Children’s Advocacy
Project. While working with Clinical
Professor Anita Weinberg at the
Civitas ChildLaw Center, Woltjen was
asked by the NIJC to start a guardian
ad litem program for unaccompanied
children. Started from scratch with
office space donated by the firm
Baker & McKenzie, the program grew
into the Young Center and is now
housed at the University of Chicago
Law School.
The center pursues both direct
client service and policy advocacy
through a combination of interna-
tional human rights, immigration law,
and children’s rights law. University
of Chicago students and volunteers,
including many Loyola law students,
serve as child advocates—similar to
best-interest guardians ad litem—for
unaccompanied immigrant children
while they are detained in Chicago
detention facilities and after they are
released to sponsors.
Many people are surprised
to learn that unaccompanied
children come to the US from all
over the world, not just Latin America.
When they’re detained, these
children can be placed in centers
far from the borders they crossed.
Several centers in Chicago accom-
modate children from countries as
distant as China and India—in fact,
students who speak Spanish,
Mandarin, Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi,
or Urdu are strongly encouraged
to apply to the clinic. As child
advocates, clinic students advocate
for the best interests of the assigned
child on issues relating to care,
custody, release, legal relief, and
safe repatriation.
On the policy front, which also
involves University of Chicago clinic
students, the center “has had a fair
amount of success,”Woltjen reports.
For instance, the center can take cred-
it for the ability of the federal gov-
ernment to appoint child advocates
in immigration proceedings. “We
managed to get a small paragraph
included in the 2008 child trafficking
law,”Woltjen says.
All 50 states have a best-interest
standard for children being
considered for removal, but incredi-
bly, no federal best-interest statute
for immigrant children exists.
Along with federal agencies and
other nongovernmental
organizations, the Young Center
is developing a framework for a
national best-interest standard.
“Everyone at the table is interest-
ed in having this framework,”Woltjen
explains. “Even if it’s not statutory,
they want to consider the children’s
safety as an important consideration
in removal proceedings.”
The Young Center andWash-
ington, DC-based nongovernmental
organizations succeeded in having
a best-interest standard included
in the comprehensive immigration
reform bill that passed the US Senate
this year—but that language was
removed at the last minute before
passage. “We’re hopeful that after
the midterms, Congress will take up
comprehensive immigration reform
again,”Woltjen says.
It’s this persistence in the face
of obstacles that has led to the
Young Center’s successes in direct
advocacy and creating policy for
long-term change. “There’s no short-
age of challenges every single day,”
Woltjen says, “but I feel fortunate to
do the work I’m doing.”
Access to justice
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7)
Representing
unaccompanied kids
The Florence Immigrant and
Refugee Rights Project provides free
legal services to men, women, and
unaccompanied children detained in
Arizona by the Immigration and Cus-
toms Enforcement (ICE) division of the
Department of Homeland Security
and the Office of Refugee Resettle-
ment division of the Department of
Health and Human Services.
“An estimated 86 percent of
detained persons go unrepresented
due to poverty,” says Rocio Castañeda,
who’s been a staff attorney with the
Florence Project since she graduated
from the School of Law in 2014. “We
try to ensure that detained individuals
have access to counsel, understand
their rights under immigration law,
and are treated fairly and humanely
by our judicial system.”
Castañeda works with unac-
companied children who have been
transferred to a number of shelters in
the Phoenix area. “We do “Know Your
Rights” trainings, individual screen-
ings, advocacy, and some direct rep-
resentation,” she explains. She shares
McCarthy’s andWoltjen’s concerns
about the difficulties detained chil-
dren have in presenting their cases.
Not only are they juveniles, nearly
all do not speak English; many speak
indigenous Mayan languages. Many
have come from a violent or abusive
environment and are frightened of
their new surroundings.
“Immigration court can be a
challenge even for the most capable
adult,” Castañeda adds. “A top attor-
ney in Phoenix who’d emigrated from
China told me she had to hire her own
attorney because it was incredibly
difficult to represent herself.
“We see children as young as
three months with no counsel—
they’re expected to represent them-
selves,” Castañeda continues. “Because
of the large numbers of children com-
ing in, there aren’t enough pro bono
or legal aid attorneys. There’s a great
ongoing need for representation.”
Sometimes cases are resolved
in children’s favor with the
Florence Project’s help. In a fairly
typical circumstance, a 16-year-old
indigenous Guatemalan boy came to
Rocio Castañeda
(JD ’14) has worked
with unaccompanied
children at the Florence
Project in Phoenix
since graduation.
Mary Meg McCarthy
(JD ’89, right) is
executive director of
the Heartland Alliance’s
National Immigrant
Justice Center.
8
LOYOLA LAW
FALL 2014
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