For Jolie, Hero Role Is No Act

NPC PHOTO BY JOHN METELSKY

When Angelina Jolie isn’t gallivanting around ancient ruins taking out evil villains in the popular Tomb Raider movies, she is a real-life hero to refugee children badly in need of one. The Hollywood star recently spoke at a National Press Club luncheon in Washington, D.C., to announce the launch of the National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children, which will provide free legal aid to thousands of refugee children who arrive in the United States each year without a parent or guardian. Jolie notes that it is daunting enough for a child to be parentless in a foreign country and believes that it is “cruel and unethical” to make these children go to their immigration hearings alone. “All we’re asking is for someone to just hold their hands through this very scary time,” the actress says.

Jolie helped bankroll the Center’s launch with a personal contribution of $500,000. The Center’s core mission is to recruit and train lawyers to represent minors in immigration cases. Many of the children in such cases initially enter the United States to escape political violence, domestic abuse, human trafficking, and other tragedies perpetrated in their native lands. The Center is the result of a collaborative effort by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. The Center is slated to open this spring.