The information in this blog post is current as of October 15, 2025.
The Children’s Immigration Law Academy (CILA) is a project of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Commission on Immigration. CILA was created in 2015, and our mission is to empower advocates who guide immigrant youth through complex legal procedures, to do so with courage, competency, compassion, and creativity. This fall marks CILA’s 10th anniversary and what a year we have had so far! Our small but mighty team continues to step up to meet the challenges experienced by our network nationwide.
This year, ABA Giving Day falls on Thursday, October 23. CILA needs your help to continue our critical work. Our goal is to reach $5,000 in donations. We encourage you to donate whatever amount you can and to share our message with your community. Your gift, between now and October 23, will help us achieve our goal!
Donating to CILA makes an impact - 10 reasons to donate to CILA:
- Technical Assistance by CILA Helped Sibling Project, ProBAR, Protect Due Process for Immigrant Children. During Labor Day weekend, unaccompanied immigrant children were woken up in the middle of the night in an attempt by the U.S. government to remove youth and expel them to Guatemala. As advocates and attorneys rushed to assist their clients and youth to protect their TVPRA and due process rights and file legal claims to stop the speedy removals, CILA was called to provide urgent technical assistance support. Our staff supported our colleagues at ProBAR, and ultimately through the work of many advocates at ProBAR and other organizations as well as litigation, the youth’s rights were protected. Read more here and watch the ABA webinar recording, “The Night They Came: First Hand Accounts of the Failed Government Attempt to Deport Children to learn more.”
- As Attorneys Saw an Increase in Asylum Office Interviews Scheduled, CILA Provided On-Point Resources & Trainings. CILA often receives feedback both from legal and social services staff as to what resources are needed most. This year, many attorneys sought additional support and training when handling asylum interviews. CILA answered the call for help by providing two trainings and accompanying practice advisories. Read more here and access the materials with a CILA account.
- CILA Created Rapid Response Resources to Guide Attorneys Through Changes In Immigration Law and Procedure. When complicated procedural questions come up, CILA helps advocates by providing technical assistance or writing resources. In this instance, CILA created a FAQ resource to help advocates working with unaccompanied children understand new registration requirements and procedure for youth. Read more here.
- When USCIS Terminated SIJS-Based Deferred Action, CILA Tracked the Impact on Current and Future SIJS Cases. Another one of CILA’s recent rapid response resources summarized the changes to SIJS-based deferred action after a recent USCIS policy change. According to the End SIJS Backlog Coalition, close to 200,000 young people have benefitted from protection from deportation and the right to receive a work authorization permit. CILA’s director, Dalia Castillo-Granados, continues to be a part of the conversation on how to defend the brave children and youth stuck in the visa backlog. Read more here.
- This Year Has Brought Unprecedented Challenges. On March 21, 2025, federal funding for much of the decades-long unaccompanied children’s legal services program was terminated affecting CILA and nonprofits serving unaccompanied children across the country. On April 29, 2025, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in the lawsuit challenging the government’s decision to terminate services and ordered restoration of funding for legal services for unaccompanied children. This program is critical to protecting vulnerable children of all ages. Related litigation is ongoing and, in the meantime, CILA needs your help to protect our future. Read more here.
- CILA Followed the Trends to Provide the Most Needed Legal Trainings to New & Experienced Attorneys. CILA provides in-depth trainings on a wide range of legal and social services topics. This year, with an emphasis on habeas petitions in the legal community, CILA hosted a webinar focused on habeas petitions in July and scheduled a part 2 webinar happening this week, “Habeas Petitions for Unaccompanied Children.” Through our work, we hope to ensure more immigrant youth are represented and represented well. Sign up for the upcoming webinar here.
- CILA’s Interdisciplinary Team, With Legal and Social Work Staff, Worked Together to Address a Variety of Needs. CILA has a social work program that works with legal and social services advocates at nonprofit organizations to connect them with housing, educational, and health resources among many others in order to serve their child clients. For example, CILA created a resource on understanding the education system. Additionally, CILA staff and a partner at the University of Houston created a guide for legal service providers seeking to hire social workers called “Collaborative Efforts to Immigration Relief: A Call for Integration of Social Workers + Lawyers,” which covers the best practices for effective integration. Read more here.
- With A Greater Need for Community Exchange, CILA Brought Advocates Together. CILA hosts an Annual Symposium to highlight the great work being done by attorneys, legal staff, and social workers on the ground. This year, in CILA’s 7th Annual Symposium, we heard topics ranging from creative hybrid clinic models to best practices for screening teen survivors of trafficking. Watch training recordings here.
- CILA Increased Capacity for Pro Bono Coordinators and Connected Pro Bono Volunteers with Legal Service Providers Nationwide. The Vera Institute of Justice released a report that states “more than 900,000 children were facing deportation in immigration court in the past 12 months. Over 66 percent of these children had no attorney." CILA’s mission is to increase representation for unaccompanied children, and we do this by hosting a platform on our website, Pro Bono Matters for Children Facing Deportation, that features pro bono opportunities from organizations nationwide to help connect pro bono attorneys and volunteers with opportunities to help immigrant youth. We also support pro bono coordinators with programmatic ideas and highlight successful pro bono models.
- CILA Facilitated Working Group Meetings to Share On-The-Ground Updates and National Trends. CILA hosts six working groups that meet quarterly to share news, trends, and updates. CILA’s working groups focus on different issue areas including asylum, special immigrant juvenile status (SIJS), detained unaccompanied children, social services, and pro bono coordination. These working group meetings offer regular opportunities for community-building and information-sharing to stay on top of the latest news and changes. Since 2015, CILA has facilitated 200+ working group meetings. Learn more about CILA’s impact over the last 10 years.
More info about CILA & Giving Day
Thank you for investing in a future where every voice is heard, every perspective is valued, and justice is truly for all.
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