Hello,

Here is a recap of Just Neighbors’ February.  This month we highlight Afghanistan, a nation from where many of our clients have fled as refugees.

Client Story by Just Neighbors intern Robin Chen Delos

Ahmed* grew up and lived most of his life in Afghanistan until he was forced to flee because of war.  His country has been embroiled in almost continuous conflict since 1979 when the Soviets invaded.  Popular guerilla forces who called themselves mujahideen rose up in opposition and promised a jihad or holy war against the Soviets.  The U.S. got involved and began supporting and training the mujahideen because it viewed them as a cold war ally against the Soviet Union.  The Soviets fled. But conflict continued as rival factions fought each other for control of the country. 

At last in 1996 a group called the Taliban asserted itself as the strongest.  It imposed harsh fundamentalist laws, including stoning to death as punishment for adultery, severing hands for theft, and forbidding women from attending school or working.  It also committed many human rights abuses.

Ahmed, his wife and two children fled these conditions for the neighboring country of Tajikistan. They lived in a refugee camp there for four years, and during their time there had two more children.  But Ahmed said Tajikstan was “no good, like Afghanistan,” so they moved again, this time to a refugee camp in Uzbekistan.  They stayed there for another four years and had one more child. But then Uzbekistan reversed its policy of allowing Afghan refugees to live in the country, according to Ahmed.  So he applied for refugee status to come to the United States. After ten months and a long flight, he arrived with his family in Washington Reagan airport on December 6, 2005.
 
Ahmed says his life here is a struggle.  He has four children to support, along with car insurance payments and rent.  Because three of his children are too young for school, his wife stays home with the children so she cannot work.  Ahmed has been working at an airport since he arrived.  He speaks little English, making it difficult for him to communicate. But he attends daily English classes and recently started a job training program with Fairfax County.

Now Just Neighbors is helping Ahmed and his family to obtain permanent resident status so they can continue making a better life for themselves.

*Name has been changed to protect client’s identity

Get Involved

United States Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) has announced that it will likely raise application fees in the coming months.  Some of these fee increases are dramatic.  For example, for an immigrant to apply to naturalize, the current fee of $330 will rise to $595.  For an Application to Register Permanent Residence (Green Card Application), the fee would be raised from $325 to $905!  Needless to say, these increases will be extremely difficult for many of our low-income clients to bear. 

In anticipation of these fee increases, Just Neighbors is helping sponsor a Citizenship Day on March 24 hosted by the Washington DC Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).  Low-income immigrants can receive help filling out naturalization applications before the fee increases take effect.  We invite any volunteers to help.  The event will take place from 10am to 4pm at Washington National Church of the Nazarene, located at 4401 16th Street N.W., Washington, DC 20011.  If you can attend, please let me know, and I will pass the information along to the host organization and also share with you more information as we receive it.

Around the Office

Just Neighbors has added a page to its Website called Client Stories.   We have compiled stories throughout our ten-year history and provided a one-sentence synopsis at the beginning of each.  Some old, others recent, we hope that these client stories help to capture the perseverance of our clients as well as the critical nature of the immigration legal services we provide. 

The final count is in- Just Neighbors served 526 clients in 2006!  This is a slight increase over the previous year.  In addition, we took on more domestic violence cases, which are extremely time-consuming.  In 2005 and 2006, Just Neighbors’ clients came from 88 different countries.  We will provide further demographic information next month.

Client Follow-up

In the December Newsletter, Just Neighbors told of a client family from Africa - the Vande’s- with whom our attorneys had worked extensively in an effort to make the wife and children eligible for U.S. Citizenship.  Shortly after we wrote that story, we received the following letter from the Vande family.

“We are writing to thank you and your entire staff for making it possible to be part of the United States of America.  We appreciate the dedication of quality service provided by Just Neighbors.  We would like you to give special thanks on our behalf to Ms. Pallavi, one of your devoted and committed attorneys who handled our case.  Her devotion to duty and her sense of compassion to ensure the promotion of equal and fair justice for all, irrespective of race or color, make her a unique attorney.  Her exceptional approach to solving problems with the truth depicts the quality of training received as a professional. Thank you!”

Fundraising

Just Neighbors received generous contributions this month from The Closet in Herndon and from Catherine Herman through the Winkler Foundation.  We appreciate these gifts and the many other contributions made by churches and individuals this month.  To make your tax-deductible donation, simply mail us a check or donate online at www.justneighbors.org.  We appreciate your support.

Sincerely,
Rob