Collaborative on Global Children's Issues

Trauma- and community-based holistic services may present a way forward for UIC, and tangible solutions may be found by developing existing models of coordinated medical-legal-mental health care. Catholic Charities Community Services, the oldest provider of legal services to detained unaccompanied immigrant children in New York, serves UIC who move through the U.S. immigration machine, from the moment a minor is placed under ORR custody in New York until the minor leaves ORR to live with a guardian in the New York City area. Catholic Charities’ Continuum of Care program provides a link connecting UIC to lawyers, doctors, and mental health clinicians integrated into the primary care setting once a UIC leaves ORR custody. Catholic Charities’ Continuum of Care program successively proceeds through the following phases:

1. Catholic Charities identifies ORR-detained UIC who are on track to be released to family members or sponsors in New York City.
2. Once Catholic Charities confirms that a UIC has left ORR custody to live with a sponsor in New York City, Catholic Charities checks to see if the minor is scheduled for an hearing in immigration court and contacts the minor to verify their interest in receiving free legal, medical, and/or mental health services.
3. If the UIC wishes to receive these services, Catholic Charities makes a referral to the appropriate providers and the UIC signs a representation agreement to receive pro bono legal representation.

From there, Catholic Charities offers holistic services to UIC through a medical-legal partnership with Montefiore Medical Center in New York City’s South Bronx called Terra Firma that is designed to address the complex medical, mental health, and legal needs of newly arrived UIC and families seeking humanitarian protection in the United States. Medical-legal partnerships allow UIC to begin their lives in the United States with the greatest opportunity to heal, learn, and fulfill their full potential. Early engagement with mental health resources helps facilitate disclosure of children’s painful histories and improve children’s chances of winning immigration status, and the Terra Firma model has proved fruitful in securing positive outcomes for UIC in a multitude of ways. At Terra Firma, health care professionals work side-by-side with pro bono immigration lawyers in a state-of-the-art community health center to create a child-centered approach that improves legal outcomes, promotes physical health, and enhances emotional well-being.

Additionally, Catholic Charities has also turned to community-based providers and subject matter experts to refine the services we provide to Indigenous UIC. As an example, Catholic Charities organized trainings with legal, medical, and mental health partners on working with Indigenous Central Americans such as the organization CIELO (Comunidades Indigenas en Liderazgo), an Indigenous-led organization based in Los Angeles, and with Indigenous leaders who have shared their personal and professional experiences in uplifting Indigenous communities. Drawing from these trainings, the legal team at Catholic Charities improved its push to identify and win legal claims for Indigenous UIC. Notably, Catholic Charities created a Know-Your-Rights training specifically tailored to Mayan UIC,and developed a screening tool for common fact patterns to better identify immigration options for Mayan UIC and to delve deeper into their cases.

Moreover, we have encouraged community-building among Indigenous UIC in New York City through innovative programming. In late spring 2021, Terra Firma created a Mayan affinity group whose meetings were held via Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This initiative created space for Mayan young people to meet with a K’iche’ Maya attorney and youth activist as well as with a K’iche’ young adult who himself had been through the U.S. immigration process. Participants expressed their appreciation of the discussion and shared that the experience contributed to a better understanding of how their backgrounds and life experiences may contribute to immigration options, such as a claim for asylum.

As the number of Indigenous Central American migrants arriving in the United States continues to increase, Catholic Charities re-affirms its mission to support Indigenous young people’s autonomy and ability to thrive in the United States. The Terra Firma program has proven results for rehabilitating traumatized minors, winning immigration status for UIC, building community among young people, and integrating children into American civic life. By promoting the well-being of immigrant children through direct services and advocacy that are responsive to their specific needs, we also strengthen local communities and inform public policy.

Brett Stark, Esq., is legal director and co-founder of Terra Firma at Catholic Charities New York, where he represents unaccompanied immigrant children in federal and state litigation, specializing in asylum and Special Immigrant Juvenile cases.

Sofia Linarte is the managing attorney with Catholic Charities' Unaccompanied Minors Program. Ms. Linarte hails from Central America, grew up undocumented in South Texas, and knows firsthand the life-altering impact competent legal representation can have on a young person facing removal from the United States.

Josephine Herman, Esq., is a staff attorney at Catholic Charities Community Services and is the recipient of an Equal Justice Works fellowship which focuses on improving legal representation for Indigenous Central American migrant children.

Elizabeth Wood is a supervising attorney with Terra Firma at Catholic Charities' Unaccompanied Minors Program in New York.