The only Fellow in Arkansas - Jacob Foor
2024 Justice Fellow Jacob Foor, a Fellow at the University of Arkansas Immigration Clinic, reflects on the challenges of working in a legal desert and how he is building a system to ensure immigrant children have the representation they deserve.
Jacob is part of the Unaccompanied Children Program, which is currently funded by the federal government, but remains at risk. Without funding, more than 2,000 children represented by IJC Fellows are left with no representation in immigration court, forced to navigate the system by themselves.
As the only IJC Fellow in the state of Arkansas–and one of its only pro bono immigration attorneys–these first several months of my IJC fellowship have felt both challenging and exciting. Since there is no work being done for unaccompanied children at my IJC placement (a university immigration clinic), my goal is to build a program from the ground up that serves this community both now and in the future.
Specifically, I am working with children who have experienced abuse, neglect, or abandonment from one or both parents and are eligible for a form of relief entitled “Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.” Since this area of immigration law overlaps with state courts and family law–which many immigration attorneys are less familiar with–I have spent months gathering wisdom and best practices from different attorneys throughout the state, synthesizing it into helpful guidance, and developing resources that are useful both to my own practice and to future under-resourced attorneys in this field. Because Arkansas has the lowest ratio of attorneys to potential child clients in the nation, this work feels especially needed and urgent.
These efforts began to pay off this spring when I began seeing clients. Through a collaborative referral system with local attorneys and non-profits (some of which have waiting lists in the 100s), I have begun serving a steady stream of clients and am experiencing encouraging success! I’ll never forget the joy and relief of my first client when they found out that their petition for relief was accepted, nor the enthusiasm it instilled in me to press on in this important work.
Though the work feels like an uphill battle in this current environment, sharing in the struggles and victories of families as they pursue a better future reminds me why I joined IJC in the first place. I am encouraged by the perseverance, joy, and courage of the children I work with and am thankful for the opportunity to be a part of their stories. As a father of two young children myself, it is easy to see the beauty, potential, and value of each child that comes into my office, and I am so thankful to be a small part of a much larger network (and legacy) of advocates seeking to create a more welcoming and just environment for immigrants.
Want to hear from more Fellows like Jacob? Visit our Fellow Story page to learn more!
