Marakira came to the United States in January 1990 from Guatemala to escape the threats of violence that she and her family were experiencing. As a single mother of three children, Marakira wanted to provide a better life for her family. She has now been in the U.S. for the last 31 years, spending most …
In their work for Just Neighbors, our attorneys spend much of their time working on behalf of their clients with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a branch of the Department of Homeland Security that reviews applications for visas, green cards, and protected statuses, amongst other tasks. This office quite literally holds the …
Last week, eight students from the Washington College of Law at American University came with their immigration law professor to help our clients at a legal clinic. We appreciated their coming out to Virginia to volunteer. Working with actual clients gave the students an opportunity to put their learning into practice and to see how …
This month’s client story was written by one of our new volunteers, Nam Mee Cho. After three weeks in the office, she writes: The lasting impact of Just Neighbors’ work is evidenced by our clients’ multi-layered success stories. Following is an example of how our services to an underserved, extremely indigent population have triggered economic …
Client Story Anna is a delightfully feisty 77-year-old native of Syria. She left her homeland when she was seven, and considers the United States her country. Anna’s social worker brought Anna to a clinic for help applying to become a citizen of the United States. Anna had applied earlier, but had not passed the reading, …
Many of you have read about our work with DACA clients — deferred action for childhood arrivals. These immigrants arrived in the United States as children and, for the first time, have the opportunity to come out of the shadows and apply for work authorization. Part of the application is a $465 fee to Immigration …
Thank You and Update on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Work Read More »
The year 2012 was a record-breaking one for Just Neighbors. We served more clients than ever by far, conducting 1,218 cases for 1,076 clients. This compares to 2011’s totals of 770 cases for 651 clients. We handled 233 domestic violence cases, 402 family unification cases, and 334 deferred action for childhood arrival cases. Our …