December 2018 Client of the Month- Selamawit Chale

December 2018 Client of the Month- Selamawit Chale   One morning in April of 2015, we had the honor of meeting Selamawit Chale for the first time.  She came to our office, broken, hurting, and terrified, but at the same time, her inner strength was palpable.  We learned that Selam was once a bright and hopeful young woman, anxious to make a difference in the world and to contribute to her communities; however, traumatic events in her childhood, followed by years of emotional and physical abuse at the hands of her husband had silenced her. 

Lifted Lamp’s Top Ten Blog Posts for 2013 & Poll for Topics for 2014

Lifted Lamp's Top Ten Blog Posts for 2013 & Poll for Topics for 2014 Looking back on what turned out to be a disappointing 2013 for the lack of progress on meaningful immigration reform and on the continuing pace of removals, we have tried to figure out what articles and stories most appealed to our readers.  Turns out that our readers were not as interested in the minute-by-minute accounts of progress, but rather came to Lifted Lamp for information about developments in the law that had a real impact upon their lives. 

Congress Reauthorizes VAWA But Falls Short On Immigration Provisions

After a long wait, Congress has reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), with several new protections that are of relevance to immigrant clients and practitioners. President Obama is expected to sign the bill this afternoon. But first, what is VAWA? In 1994, Congress enacted the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA I), the first comprehensive federal legislation to address specifically the issue of violence against women. VAWA I improved greatly the availability of overall support and resources for domestic violence survivors through the creation of new criminal enforcement authority and enhanced penalties to combat domestic violence in federal courts, and provided grants to fund programs to fight violence against women.