CAIR Coalition Helps Young Trafficking Victim

by Kathryn M. Doan, Esq.

In October 2010, CAIR Coalition began assisting a girl, Ana (not her real name), from Honduras.  At 3 months old, Ana's mother abandoned her, leaving her with an abusive grandmother and uncle.  Both relatives often beat her with belts, chairs and other objects around the house.  When Ana was 16 years old, she journeyed to the U.S. on foot to live with her male cousin who had promised Ana an education and an escape from her miserable home life.

Almost immediately after arriving in the U.S., Ana's cousin took her to the home of his friend’s family.  At her new house Ana was forced to work from dawn until late hours of the night.  She did almost all of the household chores and worked in a toy factory across the street.  All Ana's paychecks went to her cousin.  If she ever complained or asked about his promise of enrolling her in a school, he would yell at her that she owed him a lot of money for bringing her to the U.S.  A few months later, Ana's cousin introduced her to another male friend, who repeatedly raped and sexually molested her, and gave Ana's cousin money for Ana's “services.”  Ana's cries were met with her cousin’s threats of deportation, and so Ana suffered in silence and spent many nights wanting to end her life.

In early 2010, Ana and her cousin were stopped and questioned by the police about their legal status.  Being illegally here, they were handed over to immigration.  Ana was transferred to a juvenile facility in Virginia where staff from our Detained Immigrant Children’s program met her.  Program staff developed a trusting relationship with Ana and discovered she had given immigration a false name and date of birth.  Based on her false birth date, she was scheduled to be transferred to an adult facility in a week and would be ineligible for certain relief only available to minors.  Program staff worked quickly and closely with the Honduran consulate to obtain Ana’s birth certificate, which allowed Ana to remain in a juvenile facility.

CAIR Coalition continued helping Ana with her immigration case and wrote an extensive declaration for her.  When she was transferred to juvenile facility in another state due to her therapeutic needs, CAIR Coalition worked closely with her new attorneys to make sure that Ana would continue to be represented.  In June, Ana received a dependency order, a requirement for the Special Immigration Juvenile visa that will practically guarantee her a green card.  Her attorneys called CAIR Coalition to thank us for obtaining Ana's birth certificate and writing the detailed declaration that they used to secure the dependency order.

Ana recently received a full scholarship to attend art school.  She still maintains a close relationship with CAIR Coalition and regularly calls us to report her successes.  She looks forward to very soon being able to reside legally in the United States.

 

bW

Sign up to stay involved

Enter your e-mail to receive legal updates, action alerts, and more!