Comprised of highly passionate and incredibly talented teams of attorneys, paralegals, interns, and volunteers, Las Americas is a nationally known immigrant advocacy center dedicated to providing

high-quality legal services to low-income immigrants and asylum seekers from around

the world. Based in El Paso, Texas, this 501(c)3 non-profit was founded in 1987 by two

El Paso human rights activists, Ruben Garcia and Delia Gomez, co-founders of

Annunciation House, who recognized an unmet need to provide legal services for a

large influx of Central Americans fleeing their countries in the 1980s in search of refuge.

By the mid-1990’s, Las Americas began assisting women and children detained by the

INS through its Justice for Women and Children Project and representing battered

undocumented women under the Battered Immigrant Women Project. Today the

organization has a threefold focus: 1) Las Americas Mexico, which works with migrants

subject to U.S. policies and practices that either deny them entry into the U.S. to ask for

asylum or force them back into Mexico; 2) Community Migrant Advocacy Program,

which includes naturalization, crime victim services, VAWA services, and DACA

services, among others; and 3) the Detained Deportation Defense Program, which

serves asylum seekers and other migrants currently being held in CBP and ICE

detention.

Since its founding, Las Americas has served nearly 50,000 persons, while advocating

for a robust asylum system, working to reunify separated families, and calling out

abusive immigration practices. Yet, despite the increasing migration crisis and legal

needs of those arriving at the El Paso ports of entry seeking asylum, Las Americas

continues to be one of the few non-profit legal service providers assisting low-income

immigrants in this border region.