Build Hope, Not Walls

Be the last line of defense. Join the fight for immigrants’ rights.

The United States government is shutting its doors to refugees, expanding internment camps, and unleashing mass deportation programs that are tearing apart families.

Al Otro Lado provides life-saving aid and strategic resistance. We build hope, where others want to build walls.

We have specific and urgent needs right now that cannot wait. This year, we lost over $2,000,000 in federal funding. These funds have been deliberately slashed from our budget by the Trump administration, leaving us with a huge hole in our finances.

While we lost $2,000,000 in federal funding, the demand for our services is only increasing. We need to raise $2,500,000 to fill the financial gap and meet the growing needs of those impacted by cruel immigration laws.

With your support, we will reach some of the most vulnerable migrants- unaccompanied immigrant children, members of the LGBTQI+ community, and linguistically isolated asylum seekers- with life-saving legal aid. Your support will provide food, water and clothing to save lives in the desert. Together, we make sure people in migration know their rights, and know that they are not alone.

With or without federal funding, we will not abandon the immigrant children, women and men who rely on our services.

As a binational organization working on both sides of the US-MX border and with partners throughout Latin America, Al Otro Lado is uniquely positioned to respond to the multiple attacks on immigrants’ rights. We are seeing a rapid increase in the demand for our legal aid and humanitarian services.

We need your solidarity now more than ever.

Each year we reach over 15,000 migrants speaking over 50 different languages. With the current crisis, over the next four years, we know that those numbers will only increase.

Your donation will provide:

Direct Aid to Refugees at the Border

As safe options to enter the United States become non-existent, more and more people are being forced to make the extremely dangerous and potentially deadly journey across the desert. Our Water Drop Program saves lives by providing water, seasonal clothing, food & first-aid kits along the California-México border.

Impact Litigation and Transparency Work

We file class-action lawsuits and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation in response to the injustices our clients experience. This work brings transparency and accountability to US immigration authorities’ operations. We recently had a 9th Circuit win that established asylum seekers’ rights to be processed at US points of entry, and won a FOIA lawsuit that is forcing ICE to share their policies with the public. We also investigate deaths in CBP custody and help families seek redress for wrongful deaths.

Reuniting Families

Al Otro Lado reunifies children in the US who were torn apart from their families and deported during Trump’s Zero Tolerance Policy. Since 2018, we have represented 496 individuals impacted by this policy, and are involved in litigation on behalf of separated families seeking reparations from government contractors responsible for executing this illegal separation policy.

Individual Legal Representation

We provide legal representation for removal defense to protect the rights of immigrants in deportation proceedings, and represent individuals and families in affirmative applications for immigration relief, including asylum, naturalization, and visas for immigrant victims of serious crimes and labor rights violations.

Services for Deportees

Our Binational Deportee Program and Deportee Welcome Center, located in Tijuana where recently deported people are released from custody, provides vital services such as access to a phone to contact loved ones, assistance in obtaining identification documents, and referrals for food, shelter, medical care and other essential community resources. We are coordinating with the Mexican government and nonprofit organizations throughout Mexico and Central America to provide assistance to vulnerable individuals and families who are deported, offering direct reintegration support and legal assistance to address unlawful deportations.

Humanitarian Assistance and Case Management

We provide intensive wraparound services for immigrants on both sides of the border, navigating access to community resources and supporting our clients’ long-term wellness. Our team ensures that clients have access to shelter, medical care, education and community support.

Rapid response Fund for Regional Partners

Together with a network of on-the-ground organizations, Al Otro Lado is meeting the urgent needs of refugees throughout South and Central America, all the way up to the US-MX border. With pathways to protection in the United States closed off, we help organizations that provide immediate humanitarian assistance and legal alternatives to obtaining humanitarian protection, with a focus on some of the most vulnerable migrants including unaccompanied children, survivors of sexual violence, and members of the LGBTQI+ communities.

Advocacy and Leadership and the Field

Effective cross-border and cross-sector collaboration is essential to addressing the complexities of deportation and family separation. At AOL, we work alongside over 100 nonprofits and alliances across the Americas, delivering integrated legal, medical, and psychological support to families.

Media/ Narrative shift

We work to shift the fear-based narrative surrounding immigration. We are committed to transforming fear-based rhetoric and othering, into narratives that champion empathy and promote solidarity. We work to platform the voices of those most impacted by immigration policies to push back against public discourse designed to create false narratives and social stigma of immigrant communities.

Your support today will have an immediate and lasting impact on the lives of people in migration. History has shown that when communities unite in solidarity, we are a formidable force.

Please, give today.