The Central American Legal Assistance (C.A.L.A.) founded in 1985 has been a place where people seek sound legal advice. They trust that we understand their country conditions and experience. Aside from doing walk-in consultations everyday, the organization specializes in asylum, NACARA, Temporary Protected Status applications and other forms for humanitarian relief that is available for Central and South Americans.
Central American Legal Assistance, located in the basement of a church.
Everyday at the office, we saw people who fled Latin America because of violence and persecution. Many children who merely wanted to reunite with their family were caught at the border and placed in removal proceedings. Due to the harsh immigration laws, more and more people are being detained and because of bad case law many people’s viable asylum claims are denied. One big issue that I saw this summer was young persons fleeing Central America because of the gangs or maras. The maras are powerful and merciless; they control territory, collect taxes and kill. The Board of Immigration Appeals held that young people who refuse to be recruited are not a social group and therefore do not fall under one of the five protected grounds to grant asylum (race, religion, nationality, political opinion and social group). Such a holding leaves many children and adolescents unprotected with the risk of death or torture if they are forced to return to their home country.
For instance, in Honduras, 15 year-old Luis went to school by bicycle forty- five minutes away from his home. On his way he encountered mareros who asked him time and time again to join their gang. He refused every time. But on one occasion they were fed up, they hit him in the head with a gun and left him unconscious on the road. He later woke up in the hospital with a concussion. His parents could do little because their local police station was an hour away and typically police officers dissuade you from making complaints against the mareros because it is more dangerous to do so. The maras see a complaint as an act of defiance against them and seek revenge. Luis’ parents knew that they could not protect him and therefore they sent him alone to the United States with a coyote. He came to the United States and went to his asylum interview but the asylum officer did not grant him asylum but rather referred his case to immigration court. Therefore, Luis has another opportunity to win asylum in court, but as I noted, because our case law is so bad—he would unlikely win asylum in court. Although, Luis is lucky he has another avenue to stay lawfully in the United States—a Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) visa. But since he lives in upstate New York no organization took his case. Although C.A.L.A. has little resources as it is, they took his case. Luis is now in a distinct path to lawful status, because the case law in the United States on asylum is not expansive enough to include such young people who are courageous enough to say ‘no’ even if by doing so their life is in danger. At C.A.L.A. time and time again I saw people with similar stories to that of Luis but others are not so lucky. They face deportation back to the country where they are left unprotected, many without their parents and where their future is uncertain.
Another troubling aspect of deportation defense is the lack of resources for organizations to do this type of work. C.A.L.A is one of the few organizations that provide direct legal representation to people in removal proceedings. It has been tough but a great learning experience working at C.A.L.A. this summer.
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