The Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy says funding they rely on is up for review, after already facing one halt.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As immigration takes center stage at the White House, federal funding cuts leave questions for local organizations working to help.
Cristina Ceron and Ruth Santana are co-directors of the Immigrant Justice Program at the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy. They represent the hundreds of unaccompanied minors in Mecklenburg County, some of whom are just toddlers.
“Most of them are fleeing violence in their home country, whether it be violence domestically, some of them are fleeing because gang threats,” Santana said. “The vast majority of our children, they do express interest in terms of then continuing with their studies and actually becoming professionals, being able to then help others in turn.”
Immigrant adults coming to the U.S. are not guaranteed a right to free legal representation, but children are. Federal funds allow nonprofits like the center to provide lawyers for minors. They say the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy gets around $600,000 a year for just this program.
In February, President Trump ordered that to stop, as part of his efforts to reduce government waste. Trump rescinded that order days later. However, the contract that provides these funds to organizations is up for review and expires March 31, meaning there’s a chance it gets pulled again.
“There definitely is high concern and stress that this will not be renewed,” Ceron said. “It’s already causing a lot of chilling effect, I would say, for organizations such as ours. Our program depends on that funding, and the clients that we serve also depend on that funding in order to have representation available to them in court.”
Beyond court, many of these children have questions about how ICE raids in schools affect them. Many have stopped going altogether.
“10-year-olds or 15-year-olds calling me about, ‘do I continue to go to school? What is going on? Am I even allowed to go outside?'” Ceron said. “These are real questions, because they’re living it, and it’s very concerning to them.”
President Trump focused on immigration and border security at his Tuesday night address to Congress, pushing for more federal funding for securing the border.
“Within hours of taking the oath of office, I declared a national emergency on our Southern Border and I deployed the U.S. military and border patrol to repel the invasion of our country and what a job they have done. As a result, the number of illegal border crossings last month was by far the lowest recorded ever,” Trump said.
The Center for Legal Advocacy also supports the community in other ways, such as domestic violence protection and assisting with healthcare access.Â
The nonprofit already lost more than $230,000 in federal funding from a separate grant. While federal funding is the bulk of their support, they do also take donations.
They said they don’t have a timeline for when they might know about their contract being renewed. Regardless of what happens, they encourage people to reach out if they need services.
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