April 2024 Newsletter

Big Day of Giving is Just One Month Away

Empowering Lives, Building Futures.

On Big Day of Giving, help us raise $75,000 as we walk alongside immigrants, refugees, and survivors of trafficking. Early giving begins on April 18. Visit bigdayofgiving.org/openingdoors.

Interested in further supporting our Big Day of Giving efforts?

Consider becoming a peer-to-peer fundraiser and encouraging your own network to support the work of welcome! As a peer-to-peer fundraiser, you will help grow our community of welcome. We will be hosting office hours to help get you started and to thank you for your efforts. Save the date! April 16, 11 am - 12:30 pm.

Do you want a reminder to give for Big Day of Giving?

Our team is happy to call, email, or text you a reminder to give when early giving opens on April 18 or on the actual day, May 2! We’d love to share our work and get in touch as we approach our most important campaign of the season!

Click here if you want to learn more about creating a fundraiser or if you’d like a donation reminder!

If you complete the above sign-up form, you will be entered to win a $50 gift card! For questions, please contact Mollie Murbach: mollie@openingdoorsinc.org.

Pro Se Asylum Clinics Prove Successful for Afghan Evacuees

Following the fall of Kabul in 2021, Opening Doors' Immigration Legal Services (ILS) program began providing services to many evacuees fleeing Afghanistan. Faced with looming time constraints, ILS needed to assess the general legal needs of clients within this community and determine what each individual or family qualified for. Many needed to apply for asylum to obtain permanent status in the United States.

Hundreds of families required assistance, necessitating innovative approaches to meet this challenge. ILS collaborated with other local immigration law nonprofits to develop a pro se asylum clinic model. Additionally, the private bar, particularly through a partnership with Hanson Bridgett, LLC, volunteered to prepare applications at these clinics.

Through these approaches, every individual and family on our waitlist has applied for asylum. We have assisted more than 170 individuals in applying for immigration relief and held 21 legal clinics. Nearly three years later, we have received asylum approvals for more than 25 families and have seen the success of the asylum clinic model.

Our services for Afghan evacuees now continue as we assist new asylees and refugees in applying to become lawful permanent residents and obtain their green cards. ILS is holding monthly adjustment of status clinics as asylum approvals continue.

The Work of Welcome Reaches Beyond Opening Doors

Opening Doors' Managing Attorney, Sarah Torres, has been selected to serve as a federal immigration judge for the Concord Immigration Court. We are excited for this next phase of her journey and grateful for the many years of service and dedication that she gave to the Immigration Legal Services team. Sarah has been a steadfast leader of her program through periods of growth and change and has carried an exemplary philosophy of honoring the dignity of each client that she represents. Though we are sad to see Sarah depart from Opening Doors, we know that she will be creating change for the same hopeful clients that we serve each day. Sarah discusses her time at Opening Doors below.

My time at Opening Doors has been as challenging as it has been fulfilling, and this transition to immigration judge is bittersweet. We have grown from a team of 6 to a team of 18, helped hundreds of our neighbors obtain asylum and other forms of lawful immigration status, and served more people than we ever thought possible after the Afghan evacuation. Our biggest challenge has been meeting our community’s overwhelming need for immigration legal services. The magnitude of this need is what has driven my work in Immigration Legal Services and also what compelled me to broaden my impact by becoming a judge.

Opening Doors is one of very few organizations that provide representation to clients in immigration court. At our monthly intake day, prospective clients line up as early as 5 am in hopes of securing a consultation with our attorneys. Nearly every person we speak to has fled violence and persecution and is seeking asylum in immigration court. We know that folks who have an attorney are far more likely to be granted asylum, but for every family we are able to represent, we have to turn at least 20 others away. Our team has responded to this overwhelming need with creative service models such as large-scale clinics, and we adopted a “merits-blind” case selection policy that adheres to the values of universal representation.

While I believe that legal representation is critical to a fair hearing and just outcome in immigration court, I have also become increasingly aware of the role that immigration judges can play in ensuring due process for immigrants. It is now time for me to pass the torch to my colleagues who continue to fight for high-quality representation for immigrants facing deportation, as I strive to ensure due process and honor the dignity of all who enter my courtroom.

Upcoming Welcome Kit Drop Off Days

Welcome Kits are room-specific kits of basic items that a new arrival needs to set up a household. Whether you want to host a donation drive or build your own Welcome Kits, you can help make a difference in the lives of our newest neighbors.

RSVP for an upcoming Welcome Kit Drop Off Day:

April 17, 9-11 am

May 15, 9-11 am

Welcoming refugees.

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