WHICH WAY HOME

Today’s spotlight charity comes out of a very moving documentary I saw on HBO entitled “Which Way Home.”

Which Way Home shows the personal side of immigration through the eyes of children who face harrowing dangers with enormous courage and resourcefulness as they endeavor to make it to the United States. The film follows several unaccompanied child migrants as they journey through Mexico en route to the U.S. on a freight train they call “ The Beast.”

The film (which is produced by John Malkovich) tracks the stories of children like Olga and Freddy, nine-year old Hondurans who are desperately trying to reach their families in Minnesota, and Jose, a ten-year-old El Salvadoran who has been abandoned by smugglers and ends up alone in a Mexican detention center, and focuses on Kevin, a canny, streetwise 14-year-old Honduran, whose mother hopes that he will reach New York City and send money back to his family.  These are stories of hope and courage, disappointment and sorrow. They are the ones you never hear about – the invisible ones.

The filmmakers of the film are championing USCRI’s (US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants) newly founded (with help from Angelina Jolie) National Children’s Center to help support refugee and immigrant children in need.

The USCRI’s National Children’s Center provides pro bono legal and social services for unaccompanied immigrant children as they navigate the U.S. Immigration Courts. These children, often fleeing domestic abuse, gang violence, trafficking or poverty, arrive in the U.S. without parents or resources and are often deported without having ever spoken to an attorney. Some may be seeking asylum, others may simply want to reunite with family members or seek opportunities that are not available to them in their home countries.

The Center seeks to ensure that these children receive the proper legal, social and health services that they deserve.

You can check out a message from the Center’s Executive Director Lavinia Limon, who explains why refugee and immigrant children in the US without parents or guardians need the National Children’s Center.

To find out more about this program, click here.

If you are an attorney, who may be interested in helping do pro bono work for this cause.  Click here.

If you would like to donate to this cause, click here.