A fond farewell

I'm no longer serving as a Church and Community Worker. My husband and I are expecting our first baby in May and had been commuting 58 miles each way to Grand Rapids. I was offered a position with the Michigan Poverty Law Program and took the opportunity to continue similar work in a way that would be better for my family. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve alongside my United Methodist friends who continue to seek peace and justice for all of God's people.

In the Big Apple

I just returned from New York City from the JFON National Network Meeting. I went out a few days early to spend time with a friend who lives there. While she was at work on Wednesday I caught a show (Hairspray) and then Thursday we just ate our way through Park Slope, Brooklyn, starting with a carb-coma bagel picnic in Prospect Park (where I'm pictured at right). We also bought fresh mozarella, bread, tomatoes, artichoke salad, and pasta from a little Italian shop. Then we headed out for spectacular Thai in the p.m.

Friday was a full day with other JFONers from around the country. It's always exciting to be with folks with a shared mission and motiviation. We were especially inspired by our guests from Church World Service, who shared legislative updates, advocacy strategies, and insights into their own work, especially with respect to raids and detention.

Another success story

If you can believe it, I've actually simplified this case significantly for the sake of readability! A family came to the U.S. from a war-torn Central American country in the
1990s. The father had been very active in a Christian movement that
supported the poor and promoted social change, and had thus been targeted by
the government as subversive. The family applied for asylum in 1991. In
1992, an Immigration Judge denied their asylum application, but they
appealed the denial to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) with the
assistance of their attorney. While the case was pending appeal, a local
church filed an religious worker petition on behalf of the father. The
petition was approved, but the attorney took no further action to notify the
Board of Immigration Appeals. The family and the leaders of the local
church made great efforts to contact the attorney to find out what to do
next, but the attorney never returned any of their calls or made any kind of
contact with them. The family and the church lost confidence in the
attorney and went to a local nonprofit. The nonprofit organization was
accredited, but did not have an attorney on its staff. That organization
made a serious mistake. They advised the family that they could immediately
apply for permanent residence based on the approved religious worker
petition in spite of the fact that the family's asylum case was on appeal to
the BIA. In addition, after it had been pending for eight years, the BIA
had actually denied the family's appeal of their asylum denial. However,
notice that an appeal has been denied only goes to the attorney of record,
and the attorney had never informed the family of the denial and the removal
order that resulted from the denial. So, shortly after sending in their
applications for permanent residence, agents from Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) came to the family's door late one night, arrested the
father, and told the mother and daughter to report to Detroit a few days
later for supervision. At that point, the family came to JFON West
Michigan. I helped them file a Motion to Reopen their case before the BIA
and rescind their removal order. The motion was based on the fact that the
family's previous attorney had been negligent in his handling of their case
and that the nonprofit organization had advised them incorrectly. The BIA
reopened the case, rescinded the deportation order, and returned the case to
the Immigration Judge. At that point, ICE agreed that it appeared that the
family was eligible for permanent residence and agreed to have the case
closed in court. The family has just been approved for Lawful Permanent
Residence. They and their entire church family are thrilled and have
committed to supporting our work in order to help the next family
in need.

Another recent success story

Two of my clients who were applicants for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) were approved for Lawful Permanent Residence this month, including one young man, “Johnny,” from sub-Saharan Africa who originally arrived in the U.S. as a stowaway. Johnny had left his home when he was 12 years old after the man who cared for him after his parents died was killed; his country was embroiled in a civil war and chaos had erupted in his home town. He worked as a “cabin boy” and deck hand on boats that traveled all over the world for several years. He was turned over to U.S. immigration authorities when he was found aboard a ship coming from South America. Stowaways are inadmissible to the U.S. for any purpose other than to pursue asylum status and since it had been so long since Johnny left-his war-torn country and he had left at such a young age, making an asylum case presented even more of a challenge than usual. I represented him in the asylum proceedings and secured a continuance from the immigration judge to allow him to pursue SIJS. I was able to make a successful legal argument that the stowaway provision could and should be waived for humanitarian reasons. Johnny has done very well in school since coming to the U.S. and dreams of becoming a doctor. Johnny, his loving foster family and friends, his community college teachers, and the residents of the veterans’ home where he volunteers are thrilled that Johnny’s bright future is now secure. Johnny is looking forward to the day a few years down the road when he will apply for U.S. citizenship.

A recent success story

A young girl, Mariana, was abandoned by her father at a young age and brought to the U.S. from Guatemala by her mother. She later was severely sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend and removed from her mother’s home and placed in long-term foster care. Even though Michigan does not currently have a procedure for identifying immigrant children in foster care who need immigration assistance, the case came to my attention through a somewhat coincidental contact with the foster care agency manager. JFON represented Mariana in an application for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. Mariana is now a Lawful Permanent Resident of the U.S. She will be able to work, pursue higher education, and eventually become a U.S. citizen.

Citizenship Day 2008

Yesterday was an absolutely phenomenal day for our JFON West Michigan Region. Along with the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo Immigration Assistance Program (IAP), we cosponsored "AILA Citizenship Day 2008" for the American Immigration Lawyers' Association (AILA). About 10 AILA members and lots of our volunteers from Holland, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and beyond (Penny B. and son Robert came from Oceana County and so did several clients) came together at our offices in the First Place building in Grand Rapids to advise 51 clients about U.S. citizenship and of those about 40 people are eligible to move forward with applications. Around 25 of those applications are signed and sealed and will go out on Monday morning to be delivered. The rest of the eligible folks will add whatever bit of information they still need and use the prepared mailer they were given to file their own application. Clients were asked for a nominal donation to cover a few of our operating costs from yesterday and got the chance to have experienced immigration attorneys answer their questions prepare their applications for U.S. Citizenship. The room was full of enthusiastic folks ready to take the very last step to fulfill lifelong dreams Once they take the oath of citizenship, they will be eligible to vote, to travel to many new countries in the world without first getting visas, to help other family members immigrate legally to the U.S., and to call themselves Americans, among other things. It was truly a day of joy.

Itinerating home

The end of my itineration was filled with especially beautiful sights. We had a small but very engaged group in South Haven and then it was on to a very warm welcome in Sodus. The next day brought me to beautiful Whitehall on White Lake and the pent waters of Pentwater that flow into Lake Michigan through an historic channel. I have a feeling I'll be returning to Pentwater given the level of enthusiasm and need I found there for our ministry. My next port of call was Petoskey, but I was acutally snowed out (in April) so I spent the day relaxing in Traverse City before heading over to Mancelona. The final day of my itineration took me to meet friends in Mancelona and Alba and finally East Nelson put together the biggest turnout and best baked beans of my journey. It was an exhausting seven days but a wonderful chance to share our work with United Methodists in West Michigan. Many thanks to everyone I met along the way for your support, your prayers, your sincere questions, and your hospitality.