One person can to make a difference. Just ask Allison Kort, a local attorney who is volunteering as part of the Dilley Pro Bono Project (DPBP). DPBP volunteers provide free legal services for the immigrant mothers and children detained at the 2,400-bed South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. That’s the largest detention center for women and children in the U.S. The vast majority of families detained there are fleeing extreme violence in Central America and elsewhere and are seeking asylum in the United States.
The Immigration Justice Campaign coordinates DPBP along with five other projects at detention facilities in Denver; Elizabeth, New Jersey; El Paso, Texas; Youngstown, Ohio; and various detention centers in Georgia and Louisiana. The nonprofit’s mission is to fight for due process and justice for detained noncitizens. Currently, more than half of all individuals in immigration court appear without legal representation and 80% of detained immigrants have no lawyers.
Kort, who is a member of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah, is going to Dilley for a week from Dec. 22-28. She will work 14-hour days to help immigrants seeking asylum prepare for “credible fear” hearings. According to Kort, these interviews are conducted to determine whether the detainees can show a credible fear of violence in their home countries, sufficient to be granted asylum in the United States. Most of these asylum seekers are from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. They have been victims of rape, extortion and threats of violence.
“I have recruited my father, Stephen Kort, an attorney fluent in Spanish, my mother, Ellen Kort, and other attorneys and volunteers totaling a group of nine,” explained Kort. “Everyone is willing to give their time on a pro bono basis to help those in need of legal advice. There is also a group of 12 who will go to Dilley the week of New Year’s.”
An attorney for 20 years, Allison Kort works with her father at The Kort Law Firm, LLC. In addition to recruiting volunteers for DPBP, she has recruited remote bilingual interpreters who will be on the phone translating for the volunteers who do not speak Spanish.
“Almost all of the immigrants do not speak English and many of the lawyers like me do not speak Spanish,” Kort said. “I have had a huge response from interpreters who saw my posting on Facebook and want to help. Interviews can take between 90 minutes to up to four hours, so it’s a big time commitment for those who help us.”
“Imagine not being able to speak or understand English,” Kort added. Think about being “scared of being separated from your children and with no knowledge of how to navigate the legal system. These people need our help!”
Volunteers not only provide their legal services for free but are taking their time from their regular jobs to help the immigrants in Dilley. They are also required to fund travel costs and associated expenses related to their activities in Texas. In early October Kort started a GoFundMe page with a goal of raising $10,000 to help defray these expenses. So far more than $1,600 has been raised.
“We are asking for your help. One hundred percent of your donations will go to offset these costs, and any funds raised over what is needed will be donated to help future groups assisting with the Dilley Pro Bono Project,” Kort wrote on the GoFundMe page.
To make a donation to The Dilley Project, search Dilley Pro Bono Project on gofundme.com (gofundme.com/f/kmzys-dilley-pro-bono-project).Note there is more than one Dilley Pro Bono Project GoFundMe page; make sure it is the fundraiser organized by Allison Kort and Claire Wyatt.
