FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Laura Trask
Director of Development and Communications
media@ayuda.com
Washington, D.C. (February 19, 2025) — Ayuda strongly condemns the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) stop-work order that disrupts critical legal services for unaccompanied children in immigration proceedings. This abrupt decision will leave 26,000 vulnerable children—many of whom have fled violence, trafficking, and persecution—without legal representation, significantly increasing their risk of deportation to dangerous conditions.
“We know firsthand that legal representation is essential to ensuring due process and protecting children’s rights,” said Paula Fitzgerald, Executive Director of Ayuda. “For the hundreds of children and youth we represent, seeing Ayuda’s attorneys is the only time they spend with a trusted adult. Taking that away and forcing children to navigate complex immigration proceedings alone is not only unjust but also inhumane.”
For over 50 years, Ayuda has provided legal and social services to immigrants in the D.C. metropolitan area, including children seeking safety in the United States. We urge the administration to immediately reinstate funding for these critical legal services and ensure that no child is left to face the immigration system without protection.
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About Ayuda:
Ayuda provides direct legal, social, and language access services to low-income immigrants in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Since 1973, Ayuda has served more than 150,000 immigrants throughout the region. Ayuda is the only nonprofit service provider in the area that provides a wide range of immigration and family law assistance, social services, and language access support for all immigrants – including women, men, and children – from anywhere in the world. Visit www.ayuda.com to learn more.
