In struggling with the difficulties of our clients, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that Just Neighbors staff and volunteers are a vibrant group of individuals who possess their own goals and motivations. According to Just Neighbors’ Operations Director Stephanie Barnes, “approximately 30 percent of Just Neighbors volunteers are immigrants or first-generation […]
Sharing the Vision: The Successes of our Volunteers Read More »
The overarching mission of Just Neighbors staff and volunteers is to help all immigrants and asylees who come to our office become productive, accepted members of their communities in northern Virginia. But our team has a great deal of work yet to do. According to the Migration Policy Institute, an estimated eleven million undocumented immigrants
A Path to Independence Read More »
Although the individuals who staff the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) work hard for the benefit of asylees and immigrants, their organization is understaffed and overworked. Lacking the necessary funding to hire additional officers and legal workers, their office’s dense paperwork and lengthy court cases can take weeks or months to fulfill. What’s
An Overworked System Read More »
Mark your calendars! #Spring2Action is on April 25, 2018! Help us raise funds to help more immigrant clients. Every donation will be matched up to $18,000 by The Mason Hirst Foundation and The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. Don’t want to forget? Donate today! https://www.spring2action.org/organizations/just-neighbors
It would be a mistake to believe that the story of every immigrant and asylum-seeker revolves around a single conflict. For each one, the agon of attaining legal status in the U.S. constitutes just one step on an arduous journey for a happier, more fulfilling life. This is one reason why the mission of Just
Not Just Legal Assistance, but also a Brighter Future Read More »
When James Graham first came to Just Neighbors, he was in search of an opportunity to use and hone the skills he had developed as a lawyer for “over 40 years dealing with complex factual regulatory cases.” He found Just Neighbors, an organization dedicated to helping people. Graham spent his time volunteering as a lawyer
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
The larger goals that guide Just Neighbors staff and volunteers extend beyond the process of securing legal status for immigrants. We aim instead to create strong, empathetic communities by ensuring all members feel welcome and happy. In order to achieve this, then, we often strive to reunite families and loved ones across great distances and
A Dream of Reunion Read More »
by Hija Yu One year in December, I was surfing the Internet to find an appropriate image to put on the coming week’s church bulletin cover when an unusual image caught my eye. It was a drawing of three men, popularly known as the three kings, on their camels’ backs, stopped by a tall wall
Can Anything Stop Hope for a Better Life? Read More »
Immigrants suffering from domestic violence (often perpetrated by a partner) are in particularly desperate straits, as evidenced by the case of Valentina Flores. Back in 2011, Valentina came from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. to visit her brother, who had lived in America for sixteen years. While visiting, Valentina met the man who subsequently
Help in a Domestic Abuse Case: One Woman’s Story Read More »