A majority of LACLJ clients are immigrants and approximately 20% are from El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras – a region that has been identified as the most violent area in the world. Michelle Carey, who oversees LACLJ’s Immigration Program, addressed the crowd of 100 at the rally. She remarked, “These are people who are striving to support their families and, in many situations, desperately pleading for safety. It’s appalling to see situations where so many of the people being targeted for removal are people who have survived terrible forms of trauma.”
In addition to free legal representation for those facing deportation, attorneys highlighted the need to grant Temporary Protected Status to Central American immigrants and an end to the inhumane treatment of LGBT immigrants in detention.