Laura Belous

Laura Belous, an advocacy attorney at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project (FIRRP) in Tucson, Arizona, uses her skills as a former journalist to weave stories of injustice into the petitions for habeas corpus and the Federal Torts Claims Act (FTCA) claims she files on behalf of her child clients to secure their release from illegal immigration detention and to hold the federal government accountable for her clients’ trauma and suffering.

Immigrant children apprehended at the border are not supposed to be detained with adults, and the law requires a separate system for the care and custody of children. When the federal government started erroneously detaining children in adult detention centers, based solely on the results of forensic dental exams, Laura and other advocates began successfully using habeas corpus petitions to push back against this illegal form of detention.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 is very clear that the government cannot determine a child’s age based solely on a forensic dental exam. Each case must be evaluated carefully based on the totality of all available evidence, including the child’s statement.

In her work with detained children, Laura also became determined to address the impunity with which the federal government subjected her clients to terrible conditions, harm, and abuse. By seeking monetary damages with her FTCA claims, Laura hopes to not only receive justice for her clients, but also create a deterrent.

By making these cases expensive for the federal government, we can hopefully prevent them from continuing to illegally detain children.

As the granddaughter of Russian refugees and a member of a multicultural household, Laura values the diverse perspectives and rich lives that immigrants have. She brings this perspective to work with her as one of the nation’s leading attorneys actively litigating in federal court on behalf of detained immigrant children. Other issues that Laura works on include fighting abuse at temporary border patrol holding centers, pursuing Freedom of Information Act requests to uncover the truth about the deaths of immigrants in federal detention, and improving language access and protections against sexual abuse.

By poking around the edges of these issues, we can not only help our clients, but also try to fix some of these problems that we’ve seen go on for too many years.

If there is one thing Laura could change about the immigration system it would be to provide government funded appointed counsel for anyone facing deportation, especially children.

Proceedings would be fairer and more efficient. There would be more accountability. Having a qualified attorney from the very beginning of the case would also reduce the chance that a child would be abused in detention.

While Laura is frustrated that many of the same problems that existed when she began her legal career—especially the unnecessary use of detention and the lack of access to legal representation—are still prevalent, she is determined to continue to play her part in fighting against these injustices, along with her colleagues at FIRRP and the national network of advocates with whom she collaborates. We are so fortunate to have a fearless lawyer like her fighting for children!

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