U.S.-Mexico Border Response

Providing Vital Services at the U.S.-Mexico Border

HIAS works on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border to provide services to asylum seekers. We also provide extensive community education to asylum seekers, including “Know Your Rights” presentations, and remote meetings with experienced asylum attorneys.

• HIAS has offices in Mexico in Ciudad Juarez, Matamoros, Mexicali, Mexico City, Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo, Nogales, Palenque, Puebla, Queretaro, Reynosa, San Cristobal de Las Casas, Tapachula, Tijuana, and Tuxtla Gutierrez. We are providing people with legal services and information — including legal assistance for asylum in the U.S. and Mexico, legal representation to stay in Mexico, and Know Your Rights workshops — and mental health services and gender-based violence prevention as well. We also provide legal services in Matamoros. HIAS works with partners on the U.S. side of the border for true cross-border collaboration.
• HIAS is proud to have placed attorneys and paralegals as Border Fellows at non-profit legal organizations along the U.S.-Mexico border to increase their capacity to provide legal representation to asylum seekers in and out of detention. Right now HIAS has five active fellows: one fellow is working out of our affiliate, JFS San Diego; one fellow is working with Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso, Texas; and one fellow is at South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR) in Brownsville, Texas. We also have two border fellows at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) in Laredo, Texas.
• We are actively recruiting pro bono attorneys to help asylum seekers remotely. If you are a lawyer interested in helping, please see our Pro Bono page to learn more.
• We continue to mobilize the Jewish community to be a strong, persistent moral voice in support of fair, humane treatment of asylum seekers and we engage in asylum advocacy in Washington.