Episode
Arriving Alone: Legal Aid for Detained Immigrant Children
- Podcast
- I Am The Law
- Published
- Sep 23, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1547
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://www.lawhub.org/podcasts/i-am-the-law
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/i-am-the-law-172861/episodes/arriving-alone-legal-aid-for-detained-immigrant-children/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/i-am-the-law-172861/arriving-alone-legal-aid-for-detained-immigrant-children.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
Angelique Torres is a legal aid lawyer who represents children navigating the U.S. immigration system. Her clients arrive at the border without a parent or legal guardian and are placed in government custody. In this episode, Angelique explains the forms of immigration relief available to her clients, including Special Immigrant Juvenile status and asylum, and how she builds trust with children as they share the difficult experiences that can shape their cases. Each case requires advocacy on several fronts: preparing clients for asylum interviews, working with parents and child advocates, challenging prolonged detention through habeas petitions, and representing a child’s expressed wishes even when others may believe a different outcome is in their best interest. She explains how changes in funding can reshape the course of legal aid work, from the services organizations can provide to the cases they can take on, and why success ultimately depends on what each child wants from their case. Angelique is a graduate of Quinnipiac University School of Law. This episode is hosted by Katya Valasek. Editor’s note: This interview was recorded before changes to the federal funding structure for legal services for unaccompanied children. Angelique’s description of her organization’s federal funding reflects the arrangement at the time of recording and is no longer current. Mentioned in this episode: Learn more about Haynes Boone LLP Access LawHub today! Learn more about Juno and private student loans