Twenty-eight-year-old HF has lived in the United States for over 20 years. He was born in Sudan but moved to the United States at age two because his father, a diplomat in the Sudanese government, was assigned to work at the Sudanese embassy in the United States. After a military coup, the new al-Bashir led government closed the embassy and recalled all of its employees to Sudan. HF and his family returned to Sudan, but soon after, HF’s father fled back to the United States because al-Bashir detained and tortured many of his superiors who had also worked for the former government.
Around the world, Valentine’s Day represents a day of love and friendship, a day spent with those closest to you. But for many unaccompanied minors in federal custody in Virginia, this day is a sad reminder of loved ones far away and the overall loneliness of detention. Whether they are fleeing a past ridden with gang violence, child abuse or exploitation, many of these children are in the United States with no parent or legal guardian. In addition, most are coming from Mexico or Central American countries plagued by poverty and a history of civil war.
CAIR Coalition has joined over 100 national, state and local organizations in signing a set of principles designed to insure that any new immigration laws treat all immigrants with fairness, dignity and respect for their human and civil rights.
On January 22, 2013, the Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations (VACOLAO) organized an “Immigrant Advocacy Day.” CAIR Coalition’s social work intern, Andrew Doll, joined an estimated 100 representatives from various immigrants’ rights organizations in their advocacy efforts.
Originally from Jamaica, Samuel (name changed) has been married to his U.S. citizen wife for over 15 years ago. A loving husband and devoted father of two U.S. citizens sons, DR worked hard in the refrigeration industry to support his family while also pursuing his avocation as a musician. .
Thanks to funding from the Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation CAIR Coalition has expanded its legal services to new facilities in Maryland, continued its existing work with other detention facilities, and expanded its partnerships in the Maryland legal community. CAIR Coalition now provides “Know Your Rights” presentations, individual consultations and pro bono placement of cases at the Worcester County Detention Center which houses over 200 adult immigration detainees, making it the facility with the largest concentration of immigrant detainees in Maryland.
In August, CAIR Coalition expanded its Detained Children’s Program to include a third facility located in Bristow, Virginia. The facility currently houses more than 30 unaccompanied immigrant children between the ages of ten and seventeen. The population of unaccompanied immigrant children is slated to grow to 50 within the next several months.
In a recent publication entitled “The Power of Partnerships: Mintz Levin Pro Bono Journal” the firm highlights the case of “Marguerite,” a young woman from the Congo who was the victim of multiple rapes by rebel soldiers seeking control over the local population.
The Detained Children’s Project kicked off the season with a fun and creative summer project. In addition to providing legal services for detained juveniles, CAIR Coalition staff came up with an idea to support our minors in a non-legal, yet meaningful way. Through the “Safe Travels Backpack Project,” our goal for the project was to create a backpack for every child, filled with goodies such as t-shirts and socks, game books, markers and notepads, shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, and other fun items.
Hannah Kane, CAIR Coalition’s first social work intern from George Mason University, has been working to expand CAIR Coalition’s outreach work in the communities that are most often impacted by detention and deportation. Fairfax County is home to a large immigrant population, and therefore both students and parents are likely to be personally affected by detention and deportation.
MCM, a 17-year-old from Honduras, left his country in 2004 after his brother was killed by MS-13 gang members. Knowing he would be next, he made the perilous journey north at the age of 10 to live with his godmother in Texas. Once here, he filed for asylum and testified before an immigration judge in Texas at the age of 11. The immigration judge granted him asylum after hearing how MCM had been terrorized, threatened and beaten by the same gang members who killed his brother.
In 1990, IA, a national of Somalia, filed chargers against government soldiers who murdered his uncle. As a result, he was accused of being an anti-government reactionary, despite his lack of involvement in politics. IA was held for a week in an underground cell, where he was beaten and tortured. He was then transferred to a military camp, where he spent eight months doing hard labor. When he was released, he continued to be harassed; at one point a group of men broke into IA's home and attempted to kill him. His life was saved when neighbors intervened and chased the men away.
In the first half of 2011, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 46,686 parents who had at least one U.S. citizen child according to a March 2012 report by the agency.
If deportations continued at that rate for the rest of 2011, that would mean that nearly 100,000 children who are US citizens had parents who were deported in the last year.
Ashley Ham Pong, staff attorney for CAIR Coalition’s Detained Children’s Project, is the subject of an article in the on-line newspaper “Departmento 19” where she discusses her work assisting unaccompanied immigrant children. Click here if you would like to read the article.
Thanks to a generous grant from The Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation, CAIR Coalition will be expanding our legal services program in Maryland to include a third detention facility – the Worcester County Jail in Snow Hill, MD. Starting in February, CAIR Coalition will be making regular monthly visits to the facility to provide “Know Your Rights” presentations, individual consultations and pro bono placement of cases to nearly 180 detained immigrant men and woman.
GA is one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan,” a title given to the tens of thousands of young boys from the Nuer and Dinka ethnic groups who were displaced or orphaned due to ongoing warfare and persecution in Sudan.
Pedro, a torture survivor from Equatorial Guinea and a former CAIR Coalition client is featured in a recent UNHCR video.
When Pedro arrived in the U.S. in 2011 he immediately requested asylum – and was promptly detained. Current U.S. law mandates the detention of all arriving asylum seekers. If an arriving asylum seeker passes what is called a “credible fear” interview, he or she is then permitted to apply for asylum before an immigration judge. However, in many cases, the individual remains detained pending their asylum hearing.
The fight to prevent Secure Communities from taking full effect in the District remained in full swing at the John A. Wilson Building on Friday, January 6, 2012, where Kathryn M. Doan, the executive director of CAIR Coalition, and 19 other witnesses, testified before the Council of the District of Columbia and a room packed to capacity in favor of the Immigration Detainer Compliance Amendment Act of 2011.
