Microsoft has donated $3 million to Kids in Need of Defense to aid in the organization’s effort to help children who come to the United States without a parent or legal guardian find pro bono lawyers to represent them in immigration court proceedings.
The donation will be paid out over three years.
Microsoft helped found KIND in 2008 with another $3 million donation. Since then, the organization has helped more than 2,000 children, including some who are toddler-age, who are facing deportation and immigration hearings.
According to a blog post on Microsoft’s Web site written by Brad Smith, the corporation’s senior vice president and general counsel, the most recent grant will help to reach more children as well as continue to build a national pool of trained pro-bono attorneys as a resource for the 8,000 unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children in the United States.
Smith, a former Covington & Burling partner, writes in that blog post, “Of course, KIND’s impact cannot be measured by numbers alone. The true impact is seen through the real-life stories of vulnerable children, separated from their parents or other adults to care for them, who are given professional and thorough legal representation that truly offers them a better chance for a safe, secure and happy life.”
Smith was not immediately available for additional comment.
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