DuPage Lawyers Join in Effort to Help O'Hare Detainees, Incoming Refugees

Lawyers from the DuPage County Bar Association are joining in the effort to help refugees detained at O’Hare International Airport.

President Trump signed executive orders several days ago suspending refugee admissions — Syrian refugees are suspended indefinitely — for at least 120 days, and banning immigration of residents from countries including Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Libya, Yemen and Sudan for at least 90 days once they land on American soil. Protesters have been at O’Hare ever since the orders were signed.

According to a release from the organization, the DCBA’s Immigration Law Committee spearheaded its effort to help refugees, starting with a Monday trip to the airport. Matthew Sperry, the vice chair of that committee, said in the release that his and his colleagues’ attempts to connect volunteers and organizations on the ground at O’Hare was not a political statement.

“This is not a political event; it is a humanitarian effort,” he said in the release. “That is the focus.”

Sperry said advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, International Refugee Assistance Project and Lawyers for Good Governance will be on the ground at the airport, ready to help detained individuals. He wants DCBA representatives there to facilitate communication between volunteers and those organizations and to offer pro bono help to detainees.

“Dozens of individuals across the country are being detained (including at O'Hare International Airport) at ports of entry pending removal...separating families, and permanent residents who have lived in the US for years are facing being stranded abroad,” Sperry said in his email.

Attorneys Brad Giglio, who’s chair of the committee, Megan Gieseler, Tracey Hower and Jason Shore will be leading the initiative on the part of the DCBA, Sperry said.

Membership to the DCBA wasn’t required to take part in the event. Interested attorneys met at a Bloomingdale law office at 2 p.m. Jan. 30 to head to O’Hare together. Another group will meet in Lombard at 7 p.m.

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