Human Rights Documentation Exchange
The Human Rights Document Exchange (HRDE) is located in Austin, Texas and was founded in 1983. It began as Central America Resource Center (CARC).
About
There was a flood of political refugees fleeing wars in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador in the early 1980s. A group of academics at the University of Texas - Austin began compiling information on the current events and nation-wide immigration attorneys called to obtain access to this documentation for use in political asylum cases.
"Central America NewsPak started during this time as a compilation of newspaper articles from all over the U.S. and Central America. Libraries, Immigration and Naturalization Service Asylum Offices, academics, students, and other individuals make up our subscriber base."
CARC changed its name to Human Rights Documentation Exchange and started Mexico NewsPak after the wars ended in 1992. It expanded to collect documents for asylum cases worldwide. Now the organization documents Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act, Violence Against Women Act, UN Convention Against Torture, withholding, and other immigration cases.[1]
Board of Directors 1999
- Jerry Buttrey, President
- Sarah Cleveland, Secretary
- John Donahue, Treasurer
- Camille Donoghue
- Ian Hancock
- Monica Schurtman
- Roy Mersky
- Marsha Krassner
Staff 1999
- Rebecca Hall, Executive Director
- Faye Kolly, Refugee Legal Support Service Program Coordinator
- Karen Green, NewsPak Editor
- Sadie Cocke, Program Assistant
- Jan Reyes, Researcher
- Dylan Robbins, Researcher/Librarian
- Billy Hayes, Systems Administrator/Database Manager
- Billy Pope, Business Manager
Prior to 1999, Charlotte McCann (fact-checker for Louis DuBose and Jan Reid's PublicAffairs Books book about Ronnie Earle's Tom DeLay case) worked for HRDE.
Documentation services
The Refugee Legal Support Service (RLSS) provides documentation on country conditions to attorneys representing refugees and immigrants applying for:
- Asylum
- Convention Against Torture
- NACARA
- VAWA
- Cancellation of removal
- Suspension of deportation
- Withholding of removal
- Pre-prepared Packets
The HRDE staff prepares packets in response to requests for a particular topic or acquire them for distribution from the INS. Packets are gathered with a fee.[2]
NewsPaks
The HRDE houses the Central America and Mexico NewsPaks, which are bi-weekly news resources that are compilations of current news articles from major Central American and Mexican newspapers, national newspapers and wire services. The HRDE distributes them twice a week.[3]