Advocacy Day 2011
- Wednesday, June 29, 2011 |
- Written by Megan Mckenna
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KIND's first-ever Advocacy Day, hosted with Troutman Sanders, was a great success and helped further KIND's advocacy efforts. We accomplished what we set out to do-gain more support for adequate funding for unaccompanied children's services and for the reauthorization of a key anti-trafficking bill.
Troutman Sanders' Mark Newman, Chair, Immigration Practice Group, and Wally Christensen, Partner and KIND Board Member, welcomed participants. After an instructive advocacy training by two highly esteemed Hill experts, Bill Kamela, Policy Counsel, Microsoft, and Rob Bradner, Partner, Holland & Knight, our advocacy teams hit Capitol Hill. Teams were divided between the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and met with staffers of key members of Congress on the appropriations and judiciary committees of each body.
Staffers were generally supportive of funding for unaccompanied children services, and were particularly impressed by the fact that law firms and corporations have donated more than $19 million in pro bono hours to KIND in two years, but some expressed budgetary concerns. Nearly all those we met with were supportive of the reauthorization of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2008 (itself a reauthorization bill), which includes groundbreaking protections for unaccompanied children.
KIND's pro bono attorneys played a key role in the meetings by personalizing KIND's asks, describing their experiences representing unaccompanied children, and explaining the immense challenges these children face in the immigration system.
Many offices expressed the desire to see a KIND office in their district. Some offices were particularly interested in our Guatemala Child Return and Reintegration Project.
The day ended with a reception that featured Jon Comstock, Senior Associate Counsel, Wal-Mart, and Chair and Chief Judge of the Administrative Review Board, Paul Igasaki; both talked about the vital importance of pro bono representation, and their own personal commitment to this work.
