Posts Tagged ‘Immigration’
The Potential End to the U.S. Refugee Program Is More than a Political Crisis – It’s an Identity One
America is facing an identity crisis.
It’s a crisis that threatens to undermine an identity painstakingly forged over hundreds of years — years during which America became a haven of hope for those seeking a safer, more promising place to build a future.
The United States recently proposed a plan to effectively eliminate asylum opportunities for those arriving at the U.S. border. Likewise, talks of zeroing out the number of refugees admitted into the U.S. coupled with Ken Cuccinelli’s recent remarks that the Statue of Liberty’s welcoming inscription was directed solely towards “people coming from Europe” and those “who can stand on their own two feet,” mark a clear rejection of the compassionate identity that once distinguished the United States in the world.
A Symbol of Freedom
Few Americans recall the unifying details behind the Statue of Liberty’s creation in 1875. Though France financed the statue, the U.S. agreed to provide the site and build the pedestal. A lack of funds for the pedestal, however, put the project in jeopardy until Joseph Pulitzer started a fundraising campaign. Emma Lazarus’s famous poem welcoming “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,” which Cuccinelli referenced, was penned as part of this fundraiser.
More than 120,000 people contributed to the pedestal project, most of them giving less than a dollar. Donors, many of them immigrants themselves, didn’t have much, but they gave what they had to the cause of liberty and inclusion. This legacy continued when President Reagan commissioned Lee Iacocca, then Chairman of Chrysler Corporation and himself a child of immigrants, to raise funds from the public for the restoration of the same statue. Again, the American people contributed hundreds of millions to repair the symbol of freedom.
A Place of Asylum
America has historically viewed itself as both a home for immigrants and a place of asylum. Many of the first American settlers came to escape religious persecution in Europe. In 1776 Thomas Paine argued that America should be a place that embraces the persecuted, explaining that “This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe.”
We lived up to this calling during the Cold War, when we admitted over 3 million refugees impacted by Soviet repression, and during the 1960s, we admitted over 14,000 unaccompanied children from Cuba.
In contrast, the times in which our country has excluded immigrants and refugee seekers are among the most shameful in our history. When Nazi racial policies first began expelling non-ethnic Germans, U.S. immigration laws were restrictive, limited by a rigid quota system. As a result, the U.S. turned away the St. Louis, a ship carrying nearly one thousand German Jews, essentially sending them back to die. And when a bipartisan bill requested the admission of 20,000 Jewish child refugees, it didn’t even make it out of committee.
The remorse that ensued haunted our country and was largely responsible for what became the new, more open refugee policies that have rescued thousands from persecution and death around the world since World War II.
Today, we’re being called to defend the cause of liberty and sanctuary again. Refugees and asylum seekers from around the world have long looked to America as a place to raise their families in safety after enduring extreme violence and persecution.
Here’s the problem: As a nation, we’ve been comfortable for so long that we’ve forgotten what it’s like to struggle for necessities like food, clothing, shelter and life. We’ve forgotten that small acts of kindness aren’t small to those in desperate situations. And, most importantly, we’ve forgotten how these acts define us as a nation.
A Nation of Immigrants
We also seem to have forgotten America’s immigrant history. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services recently changed its mission statement to remove a phrase describing America as “a nation of immigrants.” And yet we can’t deny that immigration is woven into the very fabric of our nation. The diversity that has shaped our identity as a “melting pot” has enabled us to assume our place of leadership in the world. More than half of America’s billion-dollar startups, for example, have immigrant founders, and immigrants now create a quarter of new businesses in the U.S. One in eight members of our current Congress are immigrants or children of immigrants, and one in six U.S. health care workers are immigrants.
America has long set the standard of refugee resettlement for the rest of the world. We are not arguing in favor of open borders, but if we close our doors completely to immigrants and refugees, the rest of the world may well follow suit, exacerbating the global crisis and erasing the identity our country has worked so hard to build.
While we cannot take on the responsibility of solving all the world’s problems, we owe it to ourselves, and to all who came before us, to embrace our identity as a nation of immigrants — a nation of hope, safety and refuge. If we don’t, we will lose something inherently American. We will become smaller, not just to those outside our borders but to those inside as well.
We must decide, once again, what kind of people we want to be, and who we will become.
Tim Breene served on the World Relief Board from 2010 to 2015 before assuming the role of CEO from 2016-2020. Tim’s business career has spanned nearly 40 years with organizations like McKinsey, and Accenture where he was the Corporate Development Officer and Founder and Chief Executive of Accenture Interactive. Tim is the co-author of Jumping the S-Curve, published by Harvard Publishing. Tim and his wife Michele, a longtime supporter of World Relief, have a wealth of experience working with Christian leaders in the United States and around the world.
Stories from the Border: Sim
Over the last few weeks the news has been filled with stories of what’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border. Many of these realities are not new to our U.S. offices, who regularly work with immigrants and asylum seekers. Our offices provide legal services and vital programming to hundreds holding onto hope for a better future. In this series, Stories from the Border, we’ll be highlighting a few of these brave men and women, and their journey with World Relief.
Sim* arrived at the U.S. Southern border last November. Originally from Belarus, which is a part of the former Soviet Union, Sim had worked in the agri-business industry. His work connected him with people from all over the world. Some of them shared what life was like in their home countries, where people lived in democratic societies and had personal freedoms. This sparked Sim’s imagination. He found others who were covertly talking about democracy and personal freedom in the city where he lived and joined them, dreaming of a reality different from his current experience.
These conversations, however, led to trouble for Sim. In a dictatorship, like the one under which he lived, ideas and talk of democracy are not welcomed, and people who discuss them are considered political dissidents. The government found out about Sim, and listed him as a political enemy. Sim knew he had to flee and used what savings he had to travel West. By the time he got to the U.S.-Mexico. border, his resources were mostly spent. He approached the United States port of entry with hopeful timidity, and presented his legal case for asylum. Sim was detained from December 2018 to May 2019, when his case was finally approved.
Through World Relief’s immigrant integration program, Sim has started rebuilding his life in the U.S. Volunteers have helped him practice English and find appropriate clothing for job interviews. After just a couple of weeks in the U.S., Sim had multiple job offers in hospitality. His English improves daily, and Sim has dreams of utilizing his business and agricultural skills for employment in the future. Though the last year has been difficult, Sim has found support, friendship and hope through volunteers, churches and the staff at World Relief.
Together we’re restoring hope and rebuilding lives for the millions fleeing persecution and violence in search of refuge.
*Name has been changed to protect Sim’s identity
Dana North serves as the Marketing Manager at World Relief. With a background in graphic design and advertising and experiences in community development and transformation, Dana seeks to use the power of words and action to help create a better world. Dana is especially passionate about seeking justice for women and girls around the world.
Your Border Crisis Questions, Answered — Part 2
As the crisis on our southern border continues to grow, the debate around asylum and immigration divides our nation. Whether you know all the heartbreaking details of the situation, or are just now seeking out information, this two-part series will equip you with the facts and figures you need to speak truth and relevancy into the crisis:
PART 2:
What makes someone “illegal”? Are the terms “undocumented” and “illegal” the same?
If an individual either enters the country without inspection, overstays, or violates the terms of a temporary visa, they could be considered unlawfully present or “illegal”. While definitionally correct, a better term to use in reference to these individuals is “undocumented” or “unauthorized.” While a person’s mode of entry may be illegal, that does not define their personhood, any more than someone who speeds on the highway is “an illegal.”
It’s also worth noting that about half of those who are currently unlawfully present in the U.S., including a majority of those who have arrived in recent years originally entered lawfully, on a valid visa. For many undocumented immigrants, the process of becoming ‘undocumented’ happens without their knowledge upon the expiration of their original visa. Even those who have crossed a border unlawfully are explicitly allowed by U.S. law to request asylum at a port of entry. Likewise, most of those crossing the border unlawfully are not trying to evade detention but are, in fact, looking for the Border Patrol to request asylum.
How many immigrants already in the USA are unlawfully present?
The non-partisan organization, Pew Research Center,estimates that there were 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. as of 2017, down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007. Whereas Mexican nationals were the majority of unauthorized immigrants at that time, they are now in the minority, as the share of unauthorized immigrants from Central American and Asia has increased over the past decade. Two-thirds of these individuals have been in the U.S. for at least ten years. Governmental estimates of the number of unauthorized immigrants are similar to that of Pew: as of 2015, the last date for which they have published data, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimated that there were 12 million immigrants residing unlawfully in the U.S.
Unauthorized individuals today account for roughly one-fourth of all immigrants residing in the U.S., significantly outnumbered by naturalized U.S. citizens.
Are unauthorized immigrants more likely to commit a crime than native born Americans?
No. While some immigrants in the country unlawfully have committed crimes, they actually do so at rates significantly lower than native-born U.S. citizens. One way to measure this is by analyzing incarceration rates: among adults ages 18 to 54, about 0.76% of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. were incarcerated in 2017, compared to about 1.5% of native-born U.S. citizens. That discrepancy is also notable because the share of immigrants who are incarcerated includes asylum seekers and others held in immigration detention facilities, who in many cases have not been charged with any crime at all (unlawful presence in the country is a civil, not criminal, violation of law, though unlawful entry can be a criminal charge).
The fact that immigrants (whether lawfully present or not) are less likely to commit crimes than native-born U.S. citizens is not necessarily evidence that they are more virtuous, but it is important to note that immigrants who commit crimes (even those with legal status) risk deportation if they commit even minor offenses, whereas U.S. citizens risk only the criminal penalties. Therefore, immigrants may have even more motivation to avoid committing crimes than native-born U.S. citizens.
Do immigrants overwhelm our social services and take resources away from U.S. citizens?
Immigrants in the country unlawfully do not qualify for most public benefits, nor do most family-sponsored immigrants in the country lawfully (for the first several years they are in the U.S.) Refugees and individuals granted asylum (but not those with pending cases) generally qualify for the same social services and public benefits as U.S. citizens with the same income levels. And it is worth noting that immigrants, regardless of legal status, have access to public education (kindergarten through 12th grade) and emergency treatment at a hospital, and that certain states provide additional benefits beyond those offered at a federal level.
However, immigrants, whether with or without legal status, are also paying taxes, and most economists believe that they actually contribute more than they receive economically. A survey of economists by the Wall Street Journal, for example, found that 96% of those surveyed believed that the net economic impact of illegal immigration on the United States was positive.
Can you be pro-immigrant without being in favor of open borders?
Absolutely. Our position at World Relief has long been that we should have secure borders; in fact, our government has a responsibility to citizens to do everything reasonably possible to ensure that no one seeking to harm the U.S. is allowed to enter the country. But we can also be pro-immigrant, living into our country’s legacy of welcoming people from throughout the world who want to become Americans. We’ve long championed policies that would make it harder to immigrate unlawfully but easier to immigrate lawfully.a We also support policies that create processes by which those living unlawfully in the U.S. could admit their violation of law, pay an appropriate penalty and then earn the chance to remain lawfully in the United States.
Why do immigrants and asylum seekers need legal representation?
The Immigration & Nationality Act of the United States is incredibly complicated; lawyers have compared immigration law to tax law in terms of complexity. Very few U.S. citizens have a firm grasp on how immigration and asylum law functions, as is the case with most immigrants.
While a good legal representative never coaches a client to say anything other than the truth, they can take the time to hear the client’s full story and help identify elements of their story that are legally relevant. For example, if an asylum seeker asked why he has come to the U.S. responds, “to be with my mother,” that is not a valid reason to request asylum. However, if the young man has also fled political persecution from an authoritarian regime and has evidence verifying the persecution he’s experienced, it’s important that he present this relevant evidence, rather than merely mentioning his desire to be reunited with his mother.
Does legal representation make much different to the outcome of hearings?
Yes. Those represented by legal counsel — by an authorized expert in U.S. immigration law — are understandably far more likely to win their cases. In fact, asylum seekers represented by legal counsel are roughly four times more likely to be granted asylum than those without it.
Asylum seekers, however, are not provided legal representation by the government, so unless they have the financial resources to hire representation, or a pro bono or non-profit legal professional such as World Relief steps in, they must represent themselves in court. Not surprisingly, those representing themselves are far less likely to be approved for asylum.
Why are families being separated at the border?
In 2018, a new “zero tolerance” policy was implemented that required all individuals who crossed the border unlawfully to be charged criminally with unlawful entry. Previously, it was typical for our government to exercise prosecutorial discretion, charging some individuals who crossed unlawfully and not others. Generally, those who were actually looking for the Border Patrol to request asylum were not charged, nor were those accompanied by children, precisely because when a parent is criminally charged, children have to be separated from them. As a result of the zero tolerance policy, everyone, even those accompanied by children, were criminally charged. Children were then separated from their parents, recategorized as “unaccompanied minors” and treated as children who had been apprehended at the border without a parent.
In response to significant outcry over this policy, the president signed an executive order in June 2018 that effectively ended the practice of charging all adults apprehended along the border criminally.
However, some families have continued to be separated along the border, particularly in cases where a grandparent, uncle or aunt is traveling with a child and has no evidence of legal guardianship.
It is also worth noting that children have long been separated from parents when a father or mother is deported, leaving U.S. citizen children behind with a remaining parent. In 2011, under the Obama Administration, roughly 92,000 parents of U.S. citizen children were deported. With threats of significantly increased levels of deportation, the possibility of family separation on a large scale is, again, a very real danger.
Your Border Crisis Questions, Answered
As the crisis on our southern border continues to grow, the debate around asylum and immigration divides our nation. Whether you know all the heartbreaking details of the situation, or are just now seeking out information, this two-part series will equip you with the facts and figures you need to speak truth and relevancy into the crisis:
PART 1:
Why does someone ‘seek asylum’?
People seek asylum, generally, because they are fleeing hardship in their country of origin and have credible fear of persecution on account of their race, religion, political opinion, national origin or social group.
What qualifies someone to receive asylum?
Under U.S. law, any individual who reaches the United States has the right to request asylum, but that does not mean all will qualify. Under the law, an asylum seeker must demonstrate that his/her fear is associated with persecution according to race, religion, political opinion, national origin or social group. Those fleeing poverty or a violence that is not specifically associated with race, religion, political opinion, national origin, or social group are not eligible for asylum and are likely to be denied—as are those who simply lack documented evidence to establish their case.
What is the difference between a refugee and somebody seeking asylum?
In the U.S. context, a refugee is someone who has demonstrated he or she has fled a credible fear of persecution on account of his/her race, religion, political opinion, national origin or social group, while still overseas. A small share of the world’s refugees are selected for resettlement to the U.S. — last year, for example, it amounted to about one-tenth of one percent of those identified as refugees by the UN globally.
By contrast, someone who seeks asylum has already made their own way to the U.S. and, once on U.S. soil, claims to meet the definition of a refugee. He/she is allowed under the law, and to receive benefits similar to those provided to resettled refugees — but only if and when the U.S. government approves their case. Someone seeking asylum has the right under U.S. law to have their case considered if they can make it onto U.S. soil.
What does the asylum process look like?
It’s a very long, complicated process and looks different depending upon where one applies. The Wall Street Journal has a helpful visual representation of this complicated process.
If I’m already in the U.S., I can affirmatively submit an application for asylum. I will be scheduled for an interview, where I have the chance to make my case. If approved, I am allowed to stay and (if I do not already have it) authorized to work lawfully; if denied, and am not currently in valid immigration status (i.e., my visa has expired), I am referred to a removal hearing. At that court hearing, I can make the case once more that I qualify under the law — but if denied, I am likely to be deported.
If I arrive at an airport and indicate there that I would like to request asylum, I will be detained (at least temporarily) and subjected to a “credible fear interview.” This is essentially a preliminary review to determine if I have a reasonable chance of winning an asylum claim. If I ‘pass’ that interview, I may be held in a detention facility pending my asylum hearing — or I may be released, often with a GPS ankle bracelet to ensure that I show up for court when scheduled. Because of binding legal agreements, children can generally not be detained for more than 20 days, so single adults are more likely to be detained indefinitely while awaiting their asylum hearing. From there, if the government believes I have established that I qualify for asylum under the law, I am allowed to stay. If not, I am likely to be deported.
If I arrive at a land crossing, like the U.S.-Mexico border, and present myself, the process is generally similar to that at an airport. However, in the past few years, the Customs and Border Protection has implemented a new policy known as “metering,” where those seeking to approach the port of entry (where they would have the right to request asylum) are physically prevented from doing so, and told instead to wait their turn. Asylum seekers can wait for weeks or even months on the Mexican side of the border for their turn to approach the port and request asylum. At that point they would be detained at least temporarily; some are detained indefinitely until their court hearings, while others — especially families with children present — are eventually released, generally with ankle bracelets. Churches and non-profit organizations in border communities generally help these families arrange travel to other parts of the U.S. where they have family or friends awaiting them, and where their court hearings will be scheduled.
In the past several months, this process has changed, however. Most individuals and families, if they pass the initial credible fear interview, are being returned to Mexico to await their court hearing. They could wait there for several months just for the first hearing, often in conditions that may be unsafe and where they are unable to access U.S. legal counsel or representation.
Additionally, as of July 16, 2019, individuals who passed through Mexico (or any other country, with very limited exceptions) are being required to demonstrate that they first applied for, and were denied, asylum protections in that country before being considered for asylum in the U.S. Because countries like Mexico and Guatemala have incredibly limited resources for adjudicating asylum requests, this would require a very long stay in these countries before being eligible for consideration in the U.S. Many do not want to stay in Mexico, as they fear being subjected to the same sorts of violence they sought to escape in their home countries. Many asylum seekers also already have relatives living in the U.S., with whom they’d prefer to live. This new policy has already been challenged in court, as many legal scholars believe that it violates U.S. law, but it is currently still in effect.
What is “catch and release”?
When an individual is apprehended seeking to unlawfully cross the U.S.-Mexico border, they are generally returned to their country of origin fairly quickly. But if they request asylum, and pass the preliminary credible fear interview, they cannot be immediately deported. This sets up the question of where they should be held while waiting for their court hearing — which in some cases (because of inadequate resources and personnel to process asylum requests) can be several months or even years into the future.
One option is to detain these individuals indefinitely in detention facilities, which resemble jails, though they are technically not designed to be punitive. This would make sense if there was a credible reason to believe that someone presents a public safety threat. But detention is very expensive (for taxpayers) and not a healthy environment, particularly for children—which is why binding legal agreements have limited the amount of time that children can be held in detention facilities.
The other option is to release these individuals into the U.S., where most have a relative or friend willing to help support them while they await their court case. This is sometimes pejoratively called “catch and release.” In reality, most of these adults are required to wear a GPS tracking ankle bracelet, which alerts the government if it is removed and which allows the government to find the individual if they fail to show up for court. Despite persistent mis-statements, the vast majority of asylum seekers do show up for court: according to government data analyzed by Syracuse University, more than 80% of all recently-released asylum seeking families attend all court hearings, including 99% of those with legal representation.
What is the cost of asylum-seekers to the US?
There are costs associated with processing asylum requests, but the most significant costs are actually tied to detaining asylum seekers while they await their court hearings — waits that can be months or even years because of a shortage of asylum officers and judges. The Bipartisan Policy Center estimates that, had the U.S. government spent $109 million to hire 100 new immigration judges between 2014 and 2018, it would have saved more than $800 million in detention costs.
It is also important to note that while there are costs associated with processing asylum requests, and that those granted asylum qualify for certain public benefits that incur additional governmental expenditures, asylees also contribute to the U.S. economy as workers, taxpayers, consumers and entrepreneurs. While it is difficult to isolate the specific fiscal impact of those granted asylum, economists believe that immigrants overall have a significantly positive impact on the U.S. economy and are an integral element of economic growth. Asylees receive benefits similar to refugees resettled to the U.S., and a study of resettled refugees found that, while the costs associated with their presence were greater than their fiscal contributions for the first several years they were in the U.S., twenty years after arrival the average refugee adult had contributed about $21,000 more in taxes than the total cost of any sort of governmental expenditure on their behalf.
Stories from the Border: Pedro
Over the last few weeks the news has been filled with stories of what’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border. Many of these realities are not new to our U.S. offices, who regularly work with immigrants and asylum seekers. Our offices provide legal services and vital programming to hundreds holding onto hope for a better future. In this series, Stories from the Border, we’ll be highlighting a few of these brave men and women, and their journey with World Relief.
Pedro is a 14-year-old boy who has grown up in a Central Mexican town ruled by a violent drug cartel. The cartel operates above the law and the town’s police force is powerless to control their criminal activity. And for boys like Pedro, joining the cartel isn’t just an option, it’s mandatory. Anyone who dares to resist recruitment by the cartel faces torture — even death.
Pedro’s attempts to avoid joining the cartel were met with severe violence. Then the cartel started to threaten Pedro’s brother and mother as well. So, Pedro’s mother had to make a critical choice: stay with her friends and family in the town she loved, or leave everything to protect her two young sons.
With his mother and brother, Pedro made the difficult journey north toward the U.S. border in search of safety. When his family arrived at the border, Pedro found a team of World Relief representatives who made sure his family understood the asylum process.
And with their help, Pedro and his family were able to avoid long-term detention. Their case has been under review for two years and though they await the final decision, Pedro can now attend a local high school. His family is connected with new friends through the local church and they have found refuge and safety in a community.
Dana North serves as the Marketing Manager at World Relief. With a background in graphic design and advertising and experiences in community development and transformation, Dana seeks to use the power of words and action to help create a better world. Dana is especially passionate about seeking justice for women and girls around the world.
Stories from the Border: Josue
Over the last few weeks the news has been filled with stories of what’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border. Many of these realities are not new to our U.S. offices, who regularly work with immigrants and asylum seekers. Our offices provide legal services and vital programming to hundreds holding onto hope for a better future. In this series, Stories from the Border, we’ll be highlighting a few of these brave men and women, and their journey with World Relief.
Life in Central America’s northern triangle is riddled with violence as a result of economic collapse and political instability. Josue’s father had been living and working in the U.S. as a migrant worker in order to provide for his family back home. While his father was away, Josue was looked after by his grandmother. But when her health failed, Josue had no one else to protect and care for him. And so, he fled toward the U.S.
Josue traveled north toward the border to try and find his father. After surviving the dangerous journey, he reached the border and began to wait in the asylum queue being monitored by local authorities. Eventually, he made his way to the U.S.
That’s when World Relief first learned of Josue, through one of the teachers at the high school he was attending. Josue had been working two full time jobs to support himself while attending school. Wrapping up his second job at 3:00am, Josue would sleep for only a few hours before going to school. With no real support system, Josue was discouraged and felt hopeless.
Because of Josue’s situation, his family’s inability to care for him and the violence in his home country, World Relief helped Josue apply for Special Immigrant Juvenile status. His case is currently being reviewed in immigration court.
Today, Josue has a renewed sense of hope and believes his future can be good. His goal is to finish high school and then college, in order to pursue a law degree at UCLA. His dream is to help others in his situation—following in the footsteps of his self-proclaimed “role model,” a staff member at World Relief Southern California.
Dana North serves as the Marketing Manager at World Relief. With a background in graphic design and advertising and experiences in community development and transformation, Dana seeks to use the power of words and action to help create a better world. Dana is especially passionate about seeking justice for women and girls around the world.
Stories from the Border: Amos
Over the last few weeks the news has been filled with stories of what’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border. Many of these realities are not new to our U.S. offices, who regularly work with immigrants and asylum seekers. Our offices provide legal services and vital programming to hundreds holding onto hope for a better future. In this series, Stories from the Border, we’ll be highlighting a few of these brave men and women, and their journey with World Relief.
As a member of an ethnic English-speaking minority in Cameroon, Amos was a teacher who once attended a meeting advocating for his people’s right to vote and better government representation. At the meeting’s conclusion, the people who attended were marked by a gang and began receiving death threats. Rather than go home that night, Amos fled to a relative’s home in another part of town.
Sadly, the threats only followed him and became more severe. Finally, when Amos heard that there was an assassination ordered, he fled to Nigeria, crossing a dangerous river overnight. From there Amos made his way to Europe, then South America and finally north across the land to the U.S.-Mexico border.
By law, Amos was allowed to present his case to an asylum officer. After the interview assessing credible fear, the officer released him into the U.S. where he was dropped off at the San Diego bus station. “I didn’t know where I was,” he said. “‘San Diego’ is Spanish, so I wondered, ‘Am I in the U.S. or still in Mexico?’”
Thankfully, an outreach worker in the area found Amos and explained where he was, helped him find housing and connected him with the legal services necessary to understand the asylum process and prepare his case.
Finally, Amos was given the opportunity to present his case for asylum. The conditions of his home country were deemed unsafe and the legal definition of persecution applied to him. His asylum was granted, and with the help of World Relief, he received legal help to apply for a green card. Today, Amos works for Amazon in Southern California. He is looking forward to marriage, a family and a future.
Dana North serves as the Marketing Manager at World Relief. With a background in graphic design and advertising and experiences in community development and transformation, Dana seeks to use the power of words and action to help create a better world. Dana is especially passionate about seeking justice for women and girls around the world.
Stories from the Border: Naomi
Over the last few weeks the news has been filled with stories of what’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border. Many of these realities are not new to our U.S. offices, who regularly work with immigrants and asylum seekers. Our offices provide legal services and vital programming to hundreds holding onto hope for a better future. In this series, Stories from the Border, we’ll be highlighting a few of these brave men and women, and their journey with World Relief.
At 9 years old, Naomi’s life in Central America was far from the stable, safe and secure childhood we all hope for. Her mother had left home to try and find work. Naomi’s father had been murdered — a victim of the violence and political instability in their country — and her grandmother was unable to care for her. Naomi turned to her neighbors and sought refuge in their home, but she was quickly surrounded by violence and corruption, and feared for her life. With nowhere left to turn, she made her way to the U.S. border alone — as a child — facing hardship and abuse along the way.
As an asylum seeker, Naomi was scared she would be forced to return and felt hopeless about her future. Until she met a World Relief staff member. After learning about Naomi and hearing her story, World Relief was able to take on her legal case and help her apply for Special Immigrant Juvenile status.
Today, Naomi is not in a detention center. Instead, she is enrolled in high school and continuing her education. She recently became part of a youth soccer program supported by local churches where she is meeting new friends. As Naomi looks toward her future, she says, “I really have a hope that I haven’t experienced before.”
Dana North serves as the Marketing Manager at World Relief. With a background in graphic design and advertising and experiences in community development and transformation, Dana seeks to use the power of words and action to help create a better world. Dana is especially passionate about seeking justice for women and girls around the world.
Refugees and Displaced People Around the World
Behind every journey is sacrifice, love and hope – behind every person is a unique story to be celebrated and honored.
As refugee and immigrant families resettle into their new homes, lives are not only being rebuilt but hundreds of people are thriving through the love and support of community.
Watch and learn about these journeys to a new land.
Frontline Report: The Border
Lea este artículo en Español, Aquí.
Ted Oswald, World Relief Sacramento’s Immigration Legal Services staff attorney, and Kevin Woehr, DOJ Accredited Representative with World Relief DuPage/Aurora, recently returned from Tijuana, Mexico as part of a team comprised of World Relief staff from across the U.S. advising asylum seekers at the border. The following offers a brief but powerful glimpse into their time on the border.
A Venezuelan family of six huddled together as they told us their story. They were fleeing political persecution from their government for not supporting the ruling party. After their 18-year old pregnant daughter was arrested under false charges and brutally beaten, the family fled the country. At the border, they tried to plead for asylum, but were turned away. And so they tried again. This time they were heard — but told they could only take their two youngest children. Two must stay behind. Knowing they could not and would not be separated, they refused. Now they wait, together. They are number 601 in line.
Seeking Refuge
Each day, hundreds of people come to the Tijuana border crossing between the U.S. and Mexico, fleeing all manner of violence and poverty. These are the families hoping to apply for asylum in the U.S. Praying for a new beginning. And for safety.
At the border, their names are added to a list. A record of all those applying for asylum — and one that can grow to over 1,000 entries long. Each day, a new batch of numbers are called and these asylum seekers are interviewed. There, the U.S. must assess whether asylum seekers have a credible fear of persecution on the basis of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. The validity of these fears are determined during this interview. Not many can meet the specific requirements, and asylum seekers often face prolonged detention while their full asylum claim is judged. If denied, they are deported back to their home country. If approved, however, they are granted new life in the U.S.
Stories of the Line
This week, as we listened to the recounting of past trauma and held up these very human stories of loss, fear, pain and hope against the strict standards of asylum law, we prayed fervently for God’s justice and mercy for these suffering and vulnerable people.
In the asylum line, children napped on the floor and parents sat by the fence waiting for the custodian of the list with the hope that maybe, just maybe, some of them would add their names. We estimated that over 1,000 people’s names were on the waitlist, and that it would take 4-7 weeks from when they signed up to the moment of their interview.
Alongside that line, we met men, women and children who told us their stories:
A young woman from Mexico told us of the fateful night she was riding home from work in a local taxi. A gang pulled in front of the car, got out and killed the driver, then threatened her and her colleague. They promised that if she ever talked to the police she would be killed. In such a small town, the woman knew that though she did not know them – they knew her, and likely her family too. A few months later, her brother and uncle were killed. And so she fled.
An 18-year old Honduran boy told us of his escape from the Mara 18, an infamous and violent gang who had tried to recruit him. They threatened him frequently, trying to force him to work for them by extorting local families. When he refused, he was kidnapped and locked in a house, where one evening he was able to escape. He cried as he told us he was never able to say goodbye to his family.
A young couple from Honduras told us of their escape from gang violence and harassment. The wife has been raped, and though she contacted the police, nothing was done. Now, several months pregnant, she and her husband are seeking asylum in the hopes of beginning a new life.
Eye of the Storm
At the end of the days we began to process the stories we had heard. Stories of lives already ravaged by persecution on so many different levels (physical, emotional, sexual and mental), lives disrupted and broken, yet still somehow still intact, now standing at the border. Here these lives waited, preparing to plead their case for asylum.
As we advised individuals and families on the likely realities of applying for asylum in the U.S, we simply wished we could give them good news; news that the pain and fear was over and that they could begin to heal and restore. And yet our words were simply more words of preparation for the hardships that were still to come: detention, interviews, family separation, possible deportation, attorney fees and more. The storm was not over. It would continue on.
There were days when this knowledge was crippling. When hope evaded us. And yet, we held on to the hope that our counsel and encouragement would provide these vulnerable individuals and families with the support they needed to journey through the next phase of the storm.
Our time on the border was a clear reminder that this work is powerful, humbling and, sometimes, even holy. As our team returns to the U.S., we will continue to bear witness to what we’ve encountered at the border. We ask that you would join us in continued prayer for this important work and for peace for the hundreds of families seeking refuge at our border.
Ted Oswald has served with World Relief since 2017 as the Immigrant Legal Services (ILS) program director and attorney where he provides immigration legal services, mobilizes volunteers, and offers community legal education seminars. A licensed attorney, Ted has a Juris Doctor from the Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Drexel University, a Graduate Diploma in Forced Migration and Refugee Studies from the American University in Cairo, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from UC Davis. He is the author of three novels, Because We Are: A Novel of Haiti, There is a Land, and Little Flower.
Kevin Woehr Kevin Woehr is a partially DOJ Accredited Representative with World Relief DuPage/Aurora and has been a member of the legal team since August of 2012. As a Senior Immigration Specialist, Kevin represents clients before the Department of Homeland Security, providing legal counsel on a wide range of administrative processes. Additionally, Kevin oversees the application process of hundreds of eligible young adults each year in the capacity of DACA program coordinator. He is trilingual in English, French, and Spanish and was born and raised in Chile.
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