All Stories

Aug 10, 2015

Aiding Unaccompanied Children in the Fight for Legal Status

Our clients have one benefit that many unaccompanied children do not: an immigration attorney to help them navigate the system. Ana* is one such child. Ten years old, with pig tails, a quick smile and a sweet demeanor, it was hard to reconcile Ana’s fifth grade exuberance and spirit with the gang violence she witnessed in El Salvador.

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Aug 6, 2015

Massacre at Sinjar: Has the World Forgotten the Yazidi?

One year after their dramatic entrapment on a mountaintop in northern Iraq by ISIS, "the majority of the Yazidi people are living as displaced persons and refugees," Hetfield writes.

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Jul 31, 2015

Mother and Son Reunited After Three Years Apart

Although there have been many struggles, Jainaba insists that leaving Gambia was the only way for her to feel safe. Her son says that finally seeing his mother again after three years was the happiest moment of his life.

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Jul 31, 2015

Author Lev Golinkin Recalls Flight From Ukraine

In a recent letter, Lev shared his mother’s reasons for leaving Ukraine. “I didn’t want to be afraid of the government anymore, to live in fear of them going to my home,” she told him. “I didn’t want to stand on the schoolhouse steps and worry to death about explaining to my 9-year-old son why being a Jew was bad.”

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Jul 29, 2015

Ukraine Displacement Crisis Worsens as Local Attitudes Harden

More than 2 million Ukrainians have been displaced since March 2014. The actual number remains unknown and is likely to be higher, however, as people are in no rush to register as IDPs. New policies are not helping matters, either.

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Jul 27, 2015

Family Detention ‘Deplorable’ Says Judge

Family Detention ‘Deplorable’ Says Judge By Rachel Nusbaum, HIAS.org Jul 27, 2015 Calling conditions “deplorable,” a federal judge ruled late Friday that children from Central America held in family detention centers should be released as soon as possible. Judge Dolly Gee said conditions at the centers failed to meet the standards set by an 18-year-old legal […]

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Jul 24, 2015

Guest Blog: What Visiting a Nepali Refugee Camp Taught Me

There are over 3,000 Bhutanese refugees in the Cleveland, Ohio area alone. Many of them eventually became my close friends, but while I had heard their stories I couldn’t quite picture the refugee camp where they had spent so much time waiting and hoping. So I decided to go to Nepal.

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Jul 20, 2015

High Speed Prosecutions Put Asylum Seekers at Risk

High Speed Prosecutions Put Asylum Seekers at Risk By Britanny Vanderhoof, Policy Counsel Jul 20, 2015 It is not a crime to seek protection from persecution. The United States has a duty to protect, not prosecute, those who come here seeking asylum. Yet according to a recent report by the Department of Homeland Security, the […]

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Jul 17, 2015

Innovative Program Helps Refugees Restart Careers

"We want to ensure that refugees like Abulnaser, who bring with them a high level of education and professional experience, are given the opportunity to live and work to their full potential. Through our mentorship program, highly skilled refugees have access to industry experts and the ability to expand their professional networks," says Margaret Hinson, director of JFS-Seattle's Refugee & Immigrant Service Centers.

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Jul 16, 2015

Seeking Asylum Isn’t Illegal – So Why Were These Kids in Jail?

If there is a list somewhere of the greatest threats to America’s national security, children likely come in towards the bottom. Yes, they cry on airplanes and occasionally roam wild, but generally these are sources of irritation rather than alarm. Yet, since last summer, the United States government has been locking up hundreds of mothers and children.

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