Canal Alliance Receives Funding to Serve Unaccompanied Minors Seeking Asylum

When immigrants under age 18 flee their home countries without a legal guardian to seek asylum in the U.S. they are immediately entered into deportation proceedings and have limited time to obtain legal status before being deported. Some have family members or friends to serve as sponsors, but many do not.  

Marin County now has the highest per capita number of unaccompanied minors released to sponsors among all Bay Area Counties. Nearly 84% of these youth come from Guatemala; the rest come from El Salvador, Mexico, and Honduras. 

In Summer 2022, Canal Alliance’s Immigration Legal Services established a special Unaccompanied Minors Unit to provide legal representation so they can remain safely in the United States.  

Canal Alliance is proud to announce that the Global Jewish Citizens Fund, a giving circle of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund awarded a $16,900 grant in June 2023 to support our Unaccompanied Minors Unit. This funding will strengthen our ability to provide crucial legal services to youth who are seeking asylum in Marin to escape violence, gangs, and poverty in their home countries to find a better life in the U.S. 

Now, The Global Jewish Citizens Fund has issued a matching gift challenge to provide another grant to support immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. 

Canal Alliance is one of five organizations dedicated to improving the lives of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers that has been selected to receive a grant from The Global Jewish Citizens Fund. Funds will support our immigration legal services for unaccompanied children living in Marin.