New HNBA-KIND Partnership

Wednesday, February 09, 2011 | 

Written by Megan Mckenna

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The Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) have formed a partnership to help provide pro bono representation to unaccompanied children in the United States. "The HNBA is committed to issues concerning due process and ensuring that there are no barriers to exercising the right to legal counsel," said Diana Sen, HNBA President. "HNBA is deeply concerned about the disturbingly high number of children who cannot obtain legal representation but otherwise have valid legal defense to immigration removal proceedings."

Many children coming into the U.S. alone are fleeing severe abuse or persecution; some children were abandoned and come to the U.S. to find a way to survive; others were trafficked here, or came to find their parents. About 85 percent of the children KIND serves are from Central America or Mexico.

"Our partnership with the HNBA will be mutually beneficial by providing KIND with a strong national network of Latino professionals to whom to refer unaccompanied children, and by offering HNBA members opportunities to learn immigration law, to have direct contact with a child client, and to handle all aspects of the child's case," said KIND Executive Director Wendy Young. "KIND's child clients tremendously value their relationship with their pro bono attorneys because for many of these children, it's the first time in a long time that an adult has showed care and concern for them. HNBA members can have a tremendous impact in these children's lives.

"We are most excited about this great partnership because it brings our members what they want most -- real opportunities to make a difference by providing a voice to those who desperately need to be heard," stated Sean Andrade, HNBA's Vice President of Programs.

The HNBA is an incorporated, not-for-profit, non-partisan, national membership organization that represents the interests of the more than 100,000 attorneys, judges, law professors, legal professionals, and law students of Hispanic descent in the United States, its territories and Puerto Rico. For more information about the HNBA, please visit www.hnba.com.