Hakim* was severely persecuted in his home country for being gay. The ridicule and harassment he experienced was so severe that he was forced to drop out of school. The threat escalated and a mob, urged on by local leadership, murdered his father and his partner. Hakim himself barely escaped with his life. Hakim ended up in Indiana and that is when he sought help from the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic.

Long before he volunteered with Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic, Jerry Kelly had a relationship with Exodus Refugee, even serving on their Board for a period of seven years. After stepping down from the Board, he continued to serve as a regular volunteer in their offices. “In doing that, I got exposed to some of the immigration services that Exodus provides, like green card applications.” Soon, through this work, Jerry was introduced to the Legal Clinic.

Deyanira originally fled to the United States to escape abuse at the hands of her children’s father. She dreamed of a better life for her family, trying multiple times to bring her three boys—Jose, Luis, and Alexis—to the U.S. with her. But by the time she was successful in reuniting with them, Deyanira was living with a new man who also became physically and emotionally abusive.

In case you missed it, this July, we highlighted our Immigrant Justice Program, sharing our hearts for our immigrant neighbors, focusing on compelling client stories, and clarifying the historical context for immigration in this country.

Bible verses like, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” and “I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” provide Jack with clear guidance about what he is supposed to do. “These aren’t just nice words, but are rules of conduct,” he explains.

The day the ICE raids were supposed to begin, Laura Pontius spoke to a group of immigrants who were gathered in a Catholic Church to learn about their legal rights and the most recent changes to immigration law. After her presentation, a man approached her and the priest. She recalls that the man was visibly afraid, but he had a message to share. “All of my family and friends are really scared about what’s going to happen,” he told her. “It brings us a lot of peace that there are people out there thinking about how we’re feeling and about how we might need certain resources right now.” As he spoke, Laura was struck by how many times the man thanked her. Again and again, he expressed his gratitude that members of the community cared about what happened to him and his family.

In honor of the July 4th holiday last week, we are celebrating the naturalization of several of our clients, which is when someone becomes a U.S. Citizen. Before becoming a citizen, a person must first become a Legal Permanent Resident, which is colloquially referred to as having a Green Card. Here are just three recent stories.

Immigration has become the signature political issue of the last few years. So often, you hear people calling for reforms of the system, but we cannot possibly know where we should go without understanding where we have been.

In case you missed it, this month, we’ve been taking a close look at the impact and importance of the Legal Clinic's neighborhood roots in our community. Also this month, thanks to the generosity of several families, we've been able to match every contribution up to $25,000! You are making an impact. Not only have we secured our match, but our community has rallied, raising a combined $84,875—and we're still going strong!

“My family and I were afraid that my father would come to the house to kill my mother every night,” Litzy says. “Many times, we left the house and went to the mountain to sleep to hide from him.”

Volunteer Attorney Fatima Skimin understands the experiences of the immigrants she serves through the Clinic. Born in Casablanca, Morocco, as a girl, she received a French education, and later attended Law School in Montpellier, France. In the mid 1990s, however, Fatima chose to come to the U.S. as an international student.

In some regards, getting to know these individual stories has helped to contextualize Cynthia’s own history. “Growing up with my family, my grandparents were immigrants from Mexico,” she says. “I didn’t appreciate the sacrifices that my family has had to make until I saw how much getting a Green Card or a work permit or any help from the Clinic has meant to people who sacrificed everything to come here. That’s opened my eyes.”

This 4th of July, we celebrated three different clients who recently became U.S. citizens. We also commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) Program by releasing a video with stories of how it benefits the community.

This 4th of July, we are celebrating the stories of three of our clients who recently became citizens and the unique circumstances that led them to choose to become American.

This June, we released our most recent episode of our Courting Justice podcast on Community Development Corporations. And Executive Director Chris Purnell shared his thoughts on the difficulties and necessity of building a community of trust. 

Refugee. What a loaded word these days. As we celebrate “World Refugee Day” on June 20th, it feels appropriate to unpack that word a little. So let’s start with the basics: What is a refugee? 

One day, Marta returned from work to find him and their baby missing. When he finally came home, he didn’t have the baby with him. “He was super drunk and just kept saying, ‘She’s gone,’ over and over again,” says Erica. Desperate, Marta contacted the police, and a search began—but they never found the baby. Marta’s abuser was charged with the murder of their child. “They interviewed him multiple times and his story kept changing,” Erica says. “[Marta] cooperated with the police and testified against him.” He was eventually convicted.

This January, we shared Executive Director Chris Purnell's thoughts on what it means to walk alongside those in need and to receive such care well when we ourselves are in need. This whole year, we will be exploring the theme of Belonging through our social media and blog posts. And, as the year goes on, we hope to learn more about how you participate in this community as well.

“[Her abuser] would force himself on her and would tell her that, ‘You’re my girlfriend—this is what you’re supposed to do,’” says Grecia. “She thought it was okay and she blamed it on herself because one incident did occur in front of her daughter.” According to Grecia, Josefina became even more wracked with guilt when her daughter, who was very young and who loved her father, begged her, “Please don’t send Daddy to jail.”

Even awful things are better with other people. Currently, many of our clients are worried about a future that looks uncertain and bleak. Our young immigrant neighbors who have been here since they were children and are wondering why they are now considered “illegal” have just lost some hope. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) provided many of our immigrant youth with the ability to get a driver’s license, a job, and to pay taxes.