Refugees, page 3

GUEST BLOG: “More Than a Grade: How our Salvadoran Asylum Client Taught us What it Takes to be an Attorney” by Abdulmajeed Alhogbani, with contributions by Barrett Bles, Recent Graduates of the CUA Columbus School of Law

Posted by
June 6, 2016
GUEST BLOG: "More Than a Grade: How our Salvadoran Asylum Client Taught us What it Takes to be an Attorney" by Abdulmajeed Alhogbani, with contributions by Barrett Bles, Recent Graduates of the CUA Columbus School of Law “Ok, I’d be willing to stipulate to humanitarian asylum.” We were approximately 30 minutes into the recess the Immigration Judge took, during which we were supposed to negotiate a favorable solution for our client, when DHS said the words we had been waiting to hear since we first met our client in October. We both thought, “Oh my gosh, really???” but when Professor Michelle Mendez leaned over and whispered to our client in Spanish that she was going to get asylum, we knew this was really happening—our client was going to be safe.

Introducing our Fellow for Trans Asylum Issues and Celebrating Thirty Years of Whitman Walker Health Legal Services

Posted by
May 22, 2016
Introducing our Fellow for Trans Asylum Issues and Celebrating Thirty Years of Whitman Walker Health Legal Services This is a big week at Benach Collopy as a number of important projects are coming together and we are very excited to share them with you. First, we are very pleased to introduce Maria Celina Marquez as the inaugural Benach Collopy- Whitman Walker Health Fellow for Trans Asylum.  This fellowship is a collaboration between Benach Collopy and Whitman Walker Health, to provide a law student with a summer fellowship to work on asylum cases for transgender people. 

Benach Collopy Announces Summer Fellowship for Law Students Interested in Trans Asylum Issues

Posted by
March 7, 2016
Benach Collopy Announces Summer Fellowship for Law Students Interested in Trans Asylum Issues       I have been so lucky to get to know so many brave, hard-working, family-oriented, and generous people from all over the globe. They all shared one thing in common: a willingness to take a chance to come to the U.S. to be the person they knew they were meant to be. -Ava Benach Description of Fellowship Surging violence against transgender and gender nonconforming communities worldwide continue to force a record number of individuals to seek protection at U.S.

Dree Collopy on Central American Refugees and Asylum Law

Posted by
February 12, 2016
Writing in today’s Leadership Blog from the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Dree Collopy explains the fundamentals of asylum law the critics, journalists, and politicians fail to understand: Any refusal to recognize gender-motivated violence such as rape and domestic violence as persecution worthy of protection under the Immigration and Nationality Act and the U.N. Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees reflects a complete lack of understanding of women’s relationship to the state and their own governments’ failure to provide adequate protection. 

Client of the Month January 2016- Monique Kagayigayi

Posted by
January 12, 2016
Client of the Month January 2016- Monique Kagayigayi Our Client of the Month for January 2016 is Monique Kagayigayi. A survivor of the Rwandan genocide whose asylum claim was granted in 2004, Monique just received her green card after more than 10 years of waiting. This is the story of a remarkable woman and the legal efforts that were required to secure her status in the United States. On April 6, 1994, Rwanda’s then-president’s plane was shot down, sparking more than three months of terror and killing throughout Rwanda that today seems unthinkable.

Como Protegerse si ICE Llega a la Casa

Posted by
December 29, 2015
Hay muchas noticias que ICE empezara unos en enero.  Todavia, el gobierno no ha anunciado eso, pero, en el espíritu de empoderamiento y lucha, queremos ofrecer algunos consejos sobre cómo responder sí ICE (la migra) llega a su puerta: NO ABRA LA PUERTA. PREGUNTE QUE LE MUESTREN UNA ORDEN JUDICIAL (“WARRANT”). ICE no puede entrar a su casa sin una orden firmada por un juez. Usted no tiene que abrir la puerta.

How to Protect Yourself in Case of an ICE Raid in Your Home

Posted by
December 28, 2015
How to Protect Yourself in Case of an ICE Raid in Your Home Este aviso tambien disponible en español. Happy New Year!  Have an ICE raid! By now, everyone has heard that the Obama administration plans to celebrate the new year by rounding up families and removing them to Central America.  The administration hopes that the images of Central American families coming off of planes in San Salvador and Tegucigalpa will dissuade thousands of Central Americans from fleeing the violence and persecution that threaten their lives on a daily basis. 

On Being an Immigration Lawyer in Washington DC

Posted by
November 29, 2015
On Being an Immigration Lawyer in Washington DC We get a lot of questions about what it is like to be an immigration lawyer in Washington DC.  After all, immigration is a federal matter and Congress and the executive branch are just blocks from our office.  In addition to the White House and Capitol Hill, there are the headquarters of the Citizenship & Immigration Service, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, Customs & Border Protection, and the   In addition to those three major players, there is the Office of Immigration Litigation, the State Department and the Department of Labor, all of whom have an important role in today’s complex immigration law regime. 

Fight Daesh by Embracing the Refugee

Posted by
November 16, 2015
Fight Daesh by Embracing the Refugee At Benach Collopy, we share the outrage over the terrorist massacre in Paris.  We weep for the families who lives where turned inside out by a murderous death cult.  As residents of another Western capital, we are all too aware that we are also a target of the missionaries of hate.  Now, in the name of protecting us, many politicians call for an end to refugee admissions.