Celebrating KIND Staff Member’s Commitment to Children Alone on Human Rights Day

December 9, 2022

Written by KIND Staff

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. This is the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the United Nations General Assembly adopted on December 10, 1948. Since 1950, the United Nations and organizations around the world have observed Human Rights Day every December 10 to commemorate the signing of this landmark declaration.

The United Nations has designated this year’s Human Rights Day slogan, “Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All” and the call to action is #StandUp4HumanRights. KIND envisions a world in which the human rights of unaccompanied children and all people are respected, and our daily work assisting and protecting unaccompanied child migrants aspires to make this vision a reality.

On this International Human Rights Day, KIND recognizes and celebrates one of our team members whose work advances our mission and embodies the vision set forth by the United Nations more than 70 years ago. Paralegal Enrique Chavira Cantú, recipient of this year’s Juan P. Osuna Memorial Award. Enrique, who works at KIND’s El Paso office, won the award for his extraordinary efforts helping unaccompanied children at emergency intakes sites on the border and dedication to KIND’s mission.  

KIND envisions a world in which the human rights of unaccompanied children and all people are respected, and our daily work assisting and protecting unaccompanied child migrants aspires to make this vision a reality.

In this video, Enrique discusses his personal connection to his work with migrant children as a DACA recipient, and how at age nine he decided he wanted to study immigration law to help people like him and his family. At KIND, he found a job that combines his two passions: protecting children and immigration law. He describes feeling gratitude for receiving the award and how rewarding it is to do this work in service of his community. For him, the ability to relate to children’s situation is key:

A lot of the children we work with are facing uncertainty, this anxiousness because they don’t know what’s coming next. I am familiar with the anxiety that the unknown can bring being undocumented… Your next day is never certain. You don’t know what the policy might be the next day. It’s very nerve wracking. The only thing that can calm that anxiety is receiving direct information and receiving resources. That’s why supporting the unaccompanied children we work with every day is so important to me. I am helping kids whose anxiety and whose situation I’m very familiar with personally. It’s helpful to have somebody who understand what you’re going through… It’s been very rewarding to know that I can do this for my community.

Enrique Chavira Cantu

Much of his daily work involves giving Know Your Rights presentations to children at shelters. Enrique shares information about the U.S. legal system, including different forms of relief, such as the T Visa, which is a form of protection for survivors of human trafficking. He tells a story about how after giving a presentation to a group of 50 unaccompanied girls living in a shelter, a young girl walked up to him with fear in her eyes and asked about the T Visa. She told Enrique that she was brought to the United States against her will. Enrique and his colleagues connected the young girl with her case manager and ultimately helped her get out of the dangerous situation. “It stuck with me. To this day, I think about that girl… It reminds me of the importance of the information KIND provides to children every day.”