Program helps lift immigration burden off youths

For two years, Xiomara Medrano, a teenager on her own and in the country illegally, bounced from shelters to foster care and the houses of friends, moving 13 times.

At the same time, she faced the same turbulent issues all teens encounter, as well as juggling high school, grades and working as a waitress.

Unlike most teens, she also was constantly looking over her shoulder for immigration officials who might swoop down and send her back to El Salvador.

She came to the United States at 14 with her mother. When she was 16, financial problems forced her to move out.

Now 18, she has a green card and is enrolled in college. She can apply for citizenship in five years.

Today, lawyers for the nonprofit Gulfcoast Legal Services announced a children's immigration legal defense program, GLS Child, which is designed to help youngsters like Medrano who face immigration problems.

Every year, 6,000 to 8,000 children enter the country without parents, said Mariam Ahmedani, one of two Gulfcoast attorneys who handle children's immigration issues. Hundreds are in the Tampa Bay area as illegal immigrants living on their own.

Gulfcoast has about 70 cases in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee and Sarasota counties.

Many of the children are victims of abuse, neglect or human trafficking, and all are subject to being picked up by immigration agents. Most in this region are from Mexico and Central America, but Ahmedani said Gulfcoast also has handled cases for children from Africa and Asia.

"They don't understand their rights," she said.

Among those rights is a special status for children who are abused or neglected. There is also a special visa for children who are victims of a serious crime.

Some of the children are homeless; others live in shelters or with friends. Still others are in detention after being picked up by immigration agents or law enforcement agencies.

The embryo of GLS Child started with children in detention, but money from the Florida Bar Association helped the program expand beyond those youngsters, Ahmedani said.

Fear of detention and deportation keeps some children from seeking help, afraid they will attract the notice of officials.

"A lot of kids we could assist are scared," she said.

Children who contact the lawyers are not reported to officials. The program will take referrals from the Department of Children & Families, Guardian ad Litem programs, schools or the courts.

"If they contact us, we see our job as trying to get help," Ahmedani said. "We're not affiliated with government agencies."

A social worker at Leto High School put Medrano in touch with Gulfcoast and started her on the path that has led to her green card.

"I didn't have a job, didn't have rent," she said. "I was crying in high school."

She was going to quit school when the lawyers got her case. Instead, she graduated from high school and will start studying at Hillsborough Community College in August. She said she wants to become a doctor and deliver babies.

Everything isn't perfect. She's still living in a Tampa shelter and looking for a job in a rough economy.

But she's doing so without the pressure of someone looking over her shoulder.

Medrano said she has "no words" to describe her gratitude toward Gulfcoast.

"Without them, I'd be on the streets," she said. "They just changed my life."