AUSTIN -- The Austin Bar Association (ABA) hosted a training session Monday for attorneys who want to help families separated at the border.
The training, which has been titled "Responding to Zero-Tolerance: Credible Fear and Immigration Bond Hearing Training," was aimed at training attorneys so that they can start helping families immediately.
"Asylum seekers whose children have been taken away from them need pro bono attorneys to assist them on the very first part of the asylum request process – the credible fear interviews and bond hearings," said ABA. "The faster the parents can move through this initial process, the faster they can be reunited with their children."
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The training was organized by the Austin Bar with its Civil Rights and Immigration Section along with local immigration advocates and attorneys. University of Texas School of Law immigration clinic professors Barbara Hines, Denise Gilman and Elissa Steglich provided the training.
"Immigration advocates have been overwhelmed by the response of the legal community looking for ways to get involved and help the families affected by the policy of family separation at the borders," said attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch in a statement. "It became clear quickly that we needed to provide attorneys with training so they can start representing the families immediately."
More than 100 attorneys trained in Austin and more than 300 attorneys received the training nationwide.