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Indianapolis immigration lawyer volunteers to aid detainees in Texas

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – An immigration attorney in Indianapolis hopes to make the trip to south Texas to represent people crossing the border illegally or seeking asylum. 

Sarah Burrows said it is a trip and volunteer work she’s always wanted to do. She said even with President Donald Trump’s executive order signed, ending the controversial policy separating children from their parents arrested for illegally entering the United States, she believes she can help. 

She said the feeling of heartbreak has bubbled inside her since she learned about the Trump policy weeks ago. It happened on a field trip with her kids. 

“My heart is at the border today, but I’m physically on this field trip with my own kids,” she said. 

So, Burrows researched and found Lawyers for Good Government, along with the group CARA, a family detention pro bono project, were looking for attorneys to do free work the week of July 4 to represent detainees and asylum seekers. 

“I can’t think of a better way to spend the Fourth of July,” she said. “Our democracy means a lot to me and being able to pour into that on a day like independence day will be terrific.” 

Burrows said she hoping to be approved by Thursday. She’s already booked a flight, hotel and car.

“We’ll probably be doing a number of things at any given moment,” she said.

She would be hitting the ground running. Work would be 18 hours a day for seven days. It would include going over cases to meeting clients to arguing bond hearings to credible fear interviews for asylum seekers to research to writing to case prep. 

All of that potentially for dozens if not hundreds of clients.

“It will be people I haven’t met or people, I haven’t had the opportunity to get to know like I do my clients here,” Burrows said. 

She said she will read up on what past volunteer attorneys have done and then write up similar documents. After a week, she will be back in Indianapolis and pass the baton to another batch of lawyers. 

Burrows’ husband is also hoping to go down to south Texas. While he’s not an attorney, he wants to help track down families separated from the time the Trump administration’s policy started until Wednesday. 

The president has said a lot of people detained, if released, skip their follow up court appearances. Burrows said the ankle monitors the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has used deters that.         

The president also said some immigration attorneys will give recycled messages to asylum seekers to use, and that some of them are not truly in danger. But, Burrows said, she has not heard of that happening at least on the southern border.