Immigration Crisis Creates a Corps of Volunteers

Since the major influx of immigrants fleeing to the US that occurred this summer, there has been a standstill on Capitol Hill. Any sort of immigration reform has been put on the back burner while the immigration crisis at the border only seems to get worse. Thanks to a few devoted groups of people, one being “The Fire Brigade”, deportations are being sped up, while still giving people the justice they deserve.

The Fire Brigade is a group of immigration lawyers that have volunteered to represent the women and children that are being held at a detention center in New Mexico. The have come from all across the country to help these women and children, and their help has greatly improved the outcome for these women and children. Before The Fire Brigade arrived at the detention center roughly 40% of women were granted asylum based on their fears of persecution if they returned home. Now that these women are being represented by lawyers that are dedicated to helping them, that number has gone up to 80%. It is believed that 80% of the women in the detention center, that have come from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras face persecution of they return to their home countries. That is a staggering amount.

Now, not only are these women getting the representation that they deserve, but deportations are also being sped up. Overall, this team of volunteers is helping please both partisan sides in an issue that shouldn’t be considered partisan at all. The women and children that the courts feel don’t face persecution are being sent back to their home countries, and the women and children that do face persecution are allowed to stay. The Fire Brigade is not the only group of its kind. The humanitarian crisis that has been taking place on our border for months now has inspired some Americans to come forward and help people that genuinely need their help.