Family Protection Project serves those seeking relief in US
Since a May 2017 grant from Impact 100 got the program started, the Family Protection Project at Richmond’s Sacred Heart Center has worked to keep immigrant families together.
The Family Protection Project provides direct assistance to individuals and families seeking relief in the United States. That assistance can include funding for an attorney, help completing immigration paperwork, locating a detained loved one or explaining the immigration system and court process.
Community-wide efforts like Know Your Rights training, Power of Attorney clinics and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and legal screenings have been offered with other area non-profits who are doing similar work.
Through these combined efforts, the Family Protection Project has helped approximately 600 families in the last two years.
“The whole premise of this is the fact that children benefit from intact families and that children deserve to be with their families,” said Tanya Gonzalez, executive director of Sacred Heart Center. “When we think about Catholic social teaching, that’s really been our focus and our drive. It’s focusing on the person that’s here, on their dignity, on the fact that their children deserve to have the family and to be safe.”
The Sacred Heart Center is a partially accredited entity through the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). BIA agency recognition and staff accreditation is the Department of Justice’s certification of nonprofit legal immigration programs and their staff. Organizations working toward accreditation must have support from immigration attorneys, who can be contacted if procedural questions arise.
Karel Carreon, intake coordinator for the Family Protection Project, is a partially accredited representative through the BIA. Gustavo Angeles, leadership program assistant at Sacred Heart Center, is currently working toward certification. Partially accredited representatives can fill out immigration paperwork for individuals who come to the Center, but only fully accredited representatives can represent individuals at an immigration hearing.
Unlike the criminal justice system, individuals in immigration cases are not provided with legal representation. Instead, they must secure a private attorney, which can cost between $5,000-$8,000 depending on the attorney and complexity of the case, or find low cost or pro bono representation, a very limited resource in Richmond, according to Gonzalez.
The Family Protection Project has been able to provide partial funding for legal representation to families or individuals seeking assistance. In addition to paying court and document processing fees and travel expenses for court appearances, the individual is responsible for producing the remaining legal fees, sometimes totaling between $2,000-$3,500, which is a large but necessary burden.
“For asylum or any other relief, your chances are much lower if you’re representing yourself versus if you have an attorney to help you prepare for your case,” explained Gonzalez.
Adding to the financial burden of those seeking relief is locating and being reunited with loved ones who have been detained in Texas or Arizona.
Locating someone in detention requires “good investigative work” because, according to Carreon, the order of middle and last names or hyphenated last names are sometimes incorrectly entered into the system. The immigration system often moves individuals between facilities, including across state lines, which adds additional obstacles in locating individuals.
Once the minor is located and released to the family, the family must either pay for the minor, and often the accompaniment of a social worker from the facility, to travel to Richmond or travel to pick them up at the detention facility in person.
“I haven’t had one situation where it’s simple,” said Carreon, the primary contact for individuals or families looking for support.
Explaining the immigration process and paperwork to immigrants in a way that makes sense can be a challenge.
“Unfortunately, you can say it many different ways, but they won’t always be able to process it, in a way. Sometimes it could be their level of education. Sometimes Spanish isn’t even their first language. They have different dialects,” she said, adding that the experience of the journey to Richmond or being detained also make it difficult to comprehend the immigration process.
“Depending on with whom you are talking, you have to explain things in different ways because they won’t understand why this is needed, or what they need to get, what kind of proof they need to show to the judge,” said Angeles.
“When someone does come here, they don’t just ask for asylum and they get it. They do have to go through and prove their case, which is where having that legal representation helps, because the attorney will help them prepare the case,” added Gonzalez.
Proving the need for asylum can get increasingly difficult, because many people seeking protection are from rural areas and did not have access to proper documentation of the incidents that prompted them to leave, due in large part to the level of corruption in the police systems of their home countries.
“So it’s like, ‘Where do you go? What do you do? Who else do you turn to if your government or your community isn’t providing those services for you?’” said Carreon.
An immigration attorney is an obvious need, but family lawyers are often needed to establish the custody of minors. An attorney who works in tenant law may also be required to step in if the family or individual is not receiving the proper services that they should be getting by renting a home.
“I want people to get an idea that this is not just ‘let’s provide them with a lawyer and they’re fine.’ No, that’s not it, because there are other services that have to be provided,” said Angeles, pointing out that the traumatic experiences immigrants experienced in their home countries are not left behind.
“There are not many therapies that are bilingual, and it’s hard. Sometimes it’s not only for the parents. Sometimes it’s for the children,” Angeles said.
The ExcELL program, an after-school program that meets once per week, was created to provide social and emotional support for high school-aged students that have recently arrived to the area.
Since January, Carreon has referred four students to the ExcELL program, which serves students of Huguenot and Meadowbrook high schools.
“We also try to get them involved, whether it’s arts or different things that are going on here (at the Sacred Heart Center),” said Carreon.
Sometimes people who have received assistance from the Family Protection Project have started attending classes at the Sacred Heart Center, which offers English as a Second Language and GED preparation for adults in addition to the ExcELL program.
“It’s been awesome to see how everything connects,” said Carreon. “They know if something comes up or if they need help with some type of process, they’ll just call and say, ‘Hey, can I have some time?’ and we’ll be able to connect them one way or another to some resources or something that’s out there for them.”
Word of mouth has helped get the message out about what the Family Protection Project is and what is being done for families.
“The problem is not getting the people. The problem is that we run out of funding all the time because people need help and there isn’t a lot (of money),” said Angeles.
Sustainability is important for the Family Protection Project, but the team wants to be able to do more, like add a full-time intake specialist to work with Carreon and Angeles and grow the small network of attorneys with whom the organization currently works.
“We’re dealing with families, with people. The needs are several,” said Angeles.
With that fact in mind, the Family Protection Project’s work continues to evolve along with the needs of those seeking relief.
“At the end of the day, we’re all human beings, and one way or another, we all deserve to live, and to live freely, and to live life with dignity,” said Carreon.
Editor’s note: For more information on the Family Protection Project or to help, please contact executive director Tanya Gonzalez at [email protected] or 804-230-4399.