St. Francis College welcomed Wendy Wylegala, Deputy Director for Legal Technical Assistance, from Kids In Need of Defense (KIND) for the talk Challenges Facing Unaccompanied Child Immigrants to the US: A Legal Perspective on November 29, 2016 as part of the Fall 2016 Senior Lecture Series - Inequality and Minorities in American Culture.

(Learn About the Law and Child Immigrants)

Wylegala discussed the challenges facing unaccompanied children who enter the US immigration system alone.

KIND's mission is to ensure that no child appears in court without an attorney. They work to achieve fundamental fairness through high-quality legal representation and by advancing the child's best interests, safety, and well-being. Unaccompanied children apprehended at the border face deportation proceedings; the majority must make their claim for protection without a lawyer. The result: children can be sent back to situations where their well-being, and even their lives, are in danger. The majority of the children KIND serves have fled severe violence in their home countries. Many have been threatened or attacked by gangs, abandoned, abused, exploited, or trafficked. They come seeking safety, but find new challenges in the U.S.

The event was organized by American Studies Professor Athena Devlin and Sociology and Criminal Justice Professor Emily Horowitz and was sponsored by American Studies, History, Crime & Popular Culture, Peace & Justice, Provost's Office, Sociology & Criminal Justice, and the Women's Center.