The Department of Justice (DOJ) has allotted $2 Million in grants to fund a program which will create approximately 100 positions for lawyers and paralegals to represent immigrant children that are undergoing the immigration court system.
Since last year, there has been an increase in the number of unaccompanied children who are trying to cross the southwest border. Most are coming from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
This program is intended to help children under the age of 16 who are not in custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement or the Department of Homeland Security. To qualify the minor child must have received a court notice to appear for removal proceedings and have not had their cases consolidated with removal proceedings against a parent or legal guardian.
This new program is a collaboration between the DOJ and the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that operates the AmeriCorps national service program. Read more about it here.