Andres

A father of two escapes political persecution. In search of a place where laws are followed, he came to the U.S. Read the story to see how ImmDef helped Andrés and his family obtain asylum.

Name: Andrés*

Country of Origin: Honduras 

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Andrés was born and raised in Honduras. Throughout the early part of his life, he managed to make ends meet by working long hours in laborious jobs, but as he began to build a family, he realized that hard work alone wouldn’t be enough.  

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Fed up with the tremendous adversity he faced in his country, Andrés joined a grassroots movement to demand livable wages for all Honduran citizens, and accountability from the government. The movement gained traction, people came together, and Andrés was noticed.    

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While returning from a big protest, Andrés was intercepted and dragged into a van where members of the police force beat him and threatened his life. Determined to ensure that other protestors didn’t suffer similar incidents, Andrés filed a complaint at the local prosecution office. Soon after, someone from the prosecution office warned him that the same police group had been made aware of his complaint, and that he should take his family and run for his life.  

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Andrés and his family made their way north, yearning to find a place where laws are followed, and hard work propels people forward. When he arrived at the United States border, what he found instead was an unjust immigration process. Andrés and his family were separated and put into detention, a process that many immigrants have described as extremely inhumane. 

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“I knew we had to wait and endure it [detention] because these are the laws here, and I wanted to respect them,” Andrés says. “…but when they took my children, I felt that I had come to the wrong place.” 

After about a month in detention, Andrés heard about an organization that was helping to reunify immigrant parents with their children, and he contacted them for help. ImmDef managed to successfully reunite Andrés and his children, and eventually managed to help him win his asylum. Now, Andrés two boys are working hard in school, and Andrés is doing everything in his power to ensure that they grow to be exemplary citizens.   

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To learn more about ways to join ImmDef on its mission to support immigrant communities against systemic injustice in the legal system, click here.

Jorge

A hardworking individual pushes himself to continue on his career path while working through the asylum process. 

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Name: Jorge*

Country of Origin: Honduras 

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Jorge started working when he was 9 years old. For about 20 quetzals a day ($2.59 USD), he would help truck drivers load and unload freight. 

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Due to the prevalence of low wages throughout Latin America, children often have no choice but to enter the workforce in order to help their families make ends meet.  

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To make matters worse, the few opportunities these families are able to create for themselves are threatened by the prevalence of violence in the region. Latin America accounts for 33% of all homicides in the world.  

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Jorge learned this the hard way. After a string of violent attacks against his family, his brother was murdered, prompting him to flee to the United States for safety.  

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Throughout his journey, Jorge continued working unloading freight for truck drivers. He used the transportation routes strategically in order to travel over 2,500 miles to the United States border, where he asked for asylum.  

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“US Immigration told me I had no opportunity to be in the US, but I decided to try anyway,” Recounts Jorge.  

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“I learned about ImmDef through a program at the detention center. They fought for me to be able to stay here... They did everything 

possible for me to win the case.” 

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Jorge works in construction now. His dream is to become a contractor and he is currently working hard to learn English so that he can reach his goal.  

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To learn more about ways to join ImmDef on its mission to support immigrant communities against systemic injustice in the legal system, click here.

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* Names have been changed to protect our client’s identity.  

Country of Origin: Guatemala