Laura Peña, ProBAR Director
As immigration enforcement intensifies across the nation, ProBAR has deepened its resolve to meet this moment with action and compassion. We are standing firm against new policies that target the most vulnerable along the border — immigrant children, families, and detained adults.
Even in the face of funding losses, our commitment has not wavered. We continue to provide essential representation and legal advocacy to ensure that unaccompanied children’s rights are upheld.
Throughout the summer and into the fall, ProBAR was present in the community, responding to urgent calls for “Know Your Rights” presentations, empowering nearly 500 Rio Grande Valley residents with critical information about about how to protect themselves during encounters with immigration agents.
When a secretive midnight operation in September sought to round up Guatemalan children for rapid expulsion, ProBAR was present. Our team stepped up to represent dozens of children and defend their right to due process. When the government rolled out a financial incentive program in early October, ProBAR was present again — visiting shelters to inform children of their rights and ensure they were not coerced into dangerous choices.
Inside local detention centers, our team continues to provide small but vital group legal orientations, helping detained individuals understand their options to remain in the United States. So, when new enforcement programs emerge — like the White House’s policy to send Venezuelans to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act — ProBAR is present, identifying and supporting those most at risk.
As challenges to these harsh enforcement schemes play out in the courts, we remain alongside the people at their center — providing direct representation, advocacy, and hope.
In this fall newsletter, you will find stories about our attorneys and the legal advocates who stand in solidarity every day with the people we serve. This season, we are profoundly grateful to continue informing, representing, and responding with unwavering legal advocacy.
ProBAR – Presente.
Pro Bono Week 2025
The American Bar Association launched the National Celebration of Pro Bono in 2009 in recognition of the increasing need for pro bono services during harsh economic times and the unprecedented response of attorneys to meet this demand. At this time of year, legal organizations across America draw attention to the need for pro bono participation and celebrate those who give their time year-round.
Our feature story this year highlights one particular instance of pro bono excellence and the profound impact it can have on the lives of the people we serve here on the border in South Texas.
Securing Sanctuary amidst Shifting Sands; Pro Bono at the Border
It’s October 2024 in the United States, and tensions are flaring in anticipation of the 47th presidential election. Each vote casts a wish for a better future. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a father and daughter make the difficult decision to flee their home country, fearing for their lives in the wake of their own national elections.
Read the full story here.
ABA Giving Day is held in conjunction with the National Celebration of Pro Bono – a time that recognizes the collective power of legal services – to promote ways to help ensure a just society through donating your time and charitable dollars to address the urgent social issues of today.
This ABA Giving Day, join ProBAR as we protect legal rights and secure a brighter, safer future for immigrants and asylum-seekers.
The Giving Day website is now open! To rush essential support to the front lines, simply visit our campaign page and leave a donation between now and October 23.
ProBAR Protects Children's Rights
It was midnight when the calls to ProBAR staff began. Guatemalan children were being pulled from their beds in shelters across the state, rushed onto buses, and driven under the cover of darkness to a small border town airport in Harlingen, Texas. Deep into the Labor Day weekend, the U.S. government had launched a new effort to expeditiously return immigrant children—alone and terrified—back to Guatemala.
Watch this video to learn how ProBAR attorneys jumped into action to protect the legal rights of children.
ProBAR Is On The Front Lines
“Being on the front lines means being the first person someone speaks to upon their arrival to the United States. But now with the border systematically closed to asylum-seekers and due process being denied to those within our borders, the reality is that ProBAR has become the last line of defense for so many individuals at risk of deportation.”
Watch this video to learn how ProBAR was present to defend the rights of Venezuelans at risk of being sent to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act.
ProBAR's Youth Clients Win Asylum in Shifting Landscape
Earlier this year, ProBAR attorneys learned that a number of their recent unaccompanied children clients were scheduled for asylum interviews. The two clients, a girl from Honduras and a boy from Egypt who both arrived unaccompanied to the U.S. in 2024, were not expected to have their interviews for at least a year.
Read the full success story here.
Story by Humberto Padilla, ProBAR Multimedia Specialist
