About the Center

Who We Help

Stories from El Salvador 

The eighth child of nineteen, this 15-year-old El Salvadoran boy began working at the age of seven as a laborer in the local market for 15 hours each day.  Unable to provide the basic needs of their siblings, the older children were forced to beg on the streets and were severely beaten by their parents if they asked for the bare essentials.  The boy’s drunken father regularly beat him with a sugar cane.  His mother made him kneel for long periods of time while she kicked and hit him.  Eventually, he left home, and found temporary work in Mexico.  After two weeks he earned enough money to travel to Texas.

The Center found pro bono counsel to help him explore his legal options so that he can stay here, learn English and find a job

Originally from El Salvador, “Maria’s” parents left her to live with a relative when they moved to Houston. Her parents obtained Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”), but could not bring Maria to join them. Later her relative married and no longer wanted responsibility for Maria. At thirteen, Maria had no one else to help her and was completely on her own. She made her way to Guatemala, then Mexico, and ultimately to the United States. For anyone—but especially a 13-year-old—this was an astonishing feat. Upon reaching the United States border, she walked across the Rio Grande River. The border authorities apprehended her and held her in a detention center for minors in Harlingen, Texas. After one week, her parents came and took custody of her. With no one to care for her in her home country, Maria feared she would be separated again from her parents. The National Center matched Maria with Pro Bono attorneys, Steve Ladik and Paige Taylor, at the law firm of Jenkens & Gilchrist in Dallas. Maria’s Pro Bono attorneys determined that her grandmother is a U.S. citizen and had filed an immigrant visa petition for Maria’s mother in the 1990’s. If this petition can be reactivated, Maria’s mother may be able to adjust status in the United States and Maria could receive derivative immigrant status