For nearly nine years, Estefania* felt like her life was in limbo. With your support, Elizabeth Clapp, Immigration Legal Services Director (ILS), stuck with her through unexpected delays and hurdles until Estefania received her green card this spring.
“Now she can have a sense of stability that she didn’t have for so long,” says Elizabeth, ILS Director.
Estefania had arrived in the United States from Guatemala in 2014, as a 16-year old unaccompanied minor. She was striving to escape the extreme poverty she faced at home. Elizabeth took on the case pro bono.
“She’s the client I’ve had the longest,” Elizabeth says. “This attorney-client relationship is older than my youngest child.”
The first step was relatively straightforward. Elizabeth helped Estefania’s aunt get custody of her niece. Next, the petition for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) was approved. That’s when the challenges began.
The courts failed to send Estefania’s file to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. She essentially wound up in a “black hole,” Elizabeth says — one that would create a two-and-a-half-year delay.
Adding to the frustration, Estefania received her work permit, but her Social Security card never arrived. Then, the pandemic closed the Social Security office.
“It made it difficult for her to pursue higher education or have a steady job, because she kept running into hurdles and roadblocks,” Elizabeth says. “And she was watching other young adults she knew, including her brother, get their green cards and move on. She was just stuck.”
Through it all, Elizabeth stayed by Estefania’s side. She asked questions, sorted through the details, advocated for her client, and helped her stay positive.
No immigration case is ever simple. Yet, no matter how complex a case becomes, Catholic Charities’ ILS team is determined to help everyone they can to navigate their legal path to a new and better life in Southwest Ohio.
*Name changed for privacy.