The Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia (HBA-DC) will hold its annual Equal Justice Awards Reception on Thursday, November 7, 2013 at the Mandarin Hotel. Over three hundred of the most influential Hispanic attorneys and policy makers from the Washington metropolitan area are expected to attend. As part of the awards ceremony, the Hugh A. Johnson Jr.
On October 10, 2013, over 160 CAIR Coalition friends and supporters gathered at the law firm of Jones Day to honor Alston & Bird LLP, CAIR Coalition’s 2013 Law Firm Partner of the Year, and Jaime Contreras, Vice President, SEIU/Local 32BJ, CAIR Coalition’s 2013 Immigrant Advocate of the Year.
CAIR Coalition staff is often lucky enough to receive the artwork and writings of the individuals we serve. The poem below, “The One,” was written by a 17 year old boy from Ethiopia. This boy is currently living in a shelter facility for unaccompanied immigrant youth and is receiving legal orientation services from CAIR Coalition’s detained immigrant youth program.
More than two years ago, Arnold & Porter Associates Cara Koss and Emma Broomfield took on a U visa case through CAIR Coalition. Moved by his story, they vowed to do all they could to help their client, a victim of horrific childhood abuse, remain lawfully in the United States.
By Heidi Altman, Legal Director, Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition
Dear Opponent of Comprehensive Immigration Reform:
Do you have a child? Picture that child.
Is it a boy? Then imagine this: Every morning you struggle with the decision whether to send your son to school because you know he may very well be shot on the way home or, maybe worse, convinced to join a gang and kill another child to avoid being killed himself.
CAIR Coalition is one of more than 100 organizations representing a wide variety of communities throughout the United States calling upon the Department of Homeland Security to reconsider its deportation and detention policies in line with the Justice Department's new "Smart on Crime" policy that addresses injustices in mandatory sentencing in the criminal justice system.
By Allie Robertson, Legal Assistant and AVODAH Fellow, Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition
It was a crisp October morning as my coworkers, volunteers and I headed inside Hampton Roads Regional Jail with our folders full of intakes and informational guides for yet another batch of newly detained immigrants. As the group filed into the gymnasium, we set up for a presentation and intake. Amidst the organized chaos of detainees, CAIR Coalition staff, and volunteers, we began speaking with individuals and conducting intakes and evaluations.
Karina* fled to the United States to protect herself and her young son from ongoing horrific domestic abuse. Born in Central America, Karina has known violence her whole life. A close family member began beating her when she was in her early adolescence, and nobody – not even the police – protected her. When the violence was extended to Karina’s son, she knew she had no choice but to flee to safety. Karina found that safety in the United States. Yet today she sits in immigration detention, facing the specter of deportation back to the country of her abuser.
Ashley Ham Pong, the supervising attorney for CAIR Coalition’s Detained Children’s program, is featured in an article on mentoring that appears in the summer edition of the magazine of Roger Williams University School of Law.
Imagine being just 16 years old and having to leave your home because the MS-13 gang in El Salvador is terrorizing you daily, not letting you go to school or leave your home. Imagine being 16 and alone, boarding a freight train in Mexico known as the “Death Train” with the hopes of traveling through Mexico and arriving closer to the Mexico/U.S. border. Since you don’t have a ticket, you sit on the roof of the train with other immigrants, risking your life like so many others. Then, around midnight, there is a commotion. Members of a Mexican drug cartel board your train.
We are very excited to announce that CAIR Coalition has been chosen for inclusion in the 2013-14 Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington. Our organization is one of 72 chosen from a very competitive field of over 210 candidates. The 115 Catalogue reviewers believe that CAIR Coalition is one of the finest community-based nonprofits in the Greater Washington region!
As Gail Collins points out in a recent New York Times column, there is something to be said for the mere fact that the Senate actually managed to pass an immigration bill.
Unfortunately, CAIR Coalition is not always able to find pro bono attorneys for all the meritorious immigration case we identify during our detention visits to jails holding adult immigrants in Virginia. Sometimes we can take these cases in-house, but only on a very limited basis due to our limited resources. However, we offer a robust selection of self-help workshops and other types of pro se assistance to help fill this gap.
Among the thousands of immigrants facing detention and deportation every day are countless individuals struggling with serious mental illness. With no right to appointed counsel, these individuals are often unable to even understand the charges brought against them. Their mental health frequently deteriorates due to the stress of detention. CAIR Coalition has long advocated for this vulnerable population in the face of a detention and removal system severely lacking in protections.
While much of the media attention around the recently released Senate immigration bill has focused on the bill’s proposed “pathway to citizenship” and changes to current procedures governing the issuance of business and family-based visas, the legislation also contains a number of provisions that have the potential to significantly reduce the number of immigrants held in detention and to impro
For a non-citizen living in the United States, getting arrested and charged with a crime is a very different story than it is for a citizen. The dizzying array of immigration-related penalties of criminal convictions includes detention, ineligibility for immigration benefits including lawful permanent residence (“green card” status) and naturalization and – ultimately – deportation.
