by Adam Delezenne
For the past two years, we have been working closely with our partners at Samaritas to help their refugee clients complete legal processes. Samaritas clients come from all over the world, and we have had the opportunity to serve many from the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and South America. Refugees arrive in the country and get a lot of help from organizations like Samaritas. Once a refugee has been present in the United States for a year, they can apply to become a legal permanent resident. Samaritas asks us to help as their legal capacity is severely limited compared to all the clients who need this kind of work.
The application to become a permanent resident is a Form I-485. It’s 12-pages long and asks for a lot of information. But for most applicants, the form is pretty straightforward. The Kasongo family from the Democratic Republic of the Congo is not like most families. They fled their home and lived many years in a United Nations refugee camp in Tanzania in hopes of finding safety in the United States. Authorities asked them to temporarily take care of six-year-old Jean, a boy whose parents had been killed after an armed militia attacked the camp. This was not supposed to be a formal adoption but more as a way to keep Jean safe in the camp.
In the months that followed, Jean became a part of the family. When the time came for the family to be resettled in the United States, Jean, of course, traveled with them. They were admitted together to the United States as refugees. Now, with SWIRC as their legal representative, we are helping the entire family become permanent residents, despite the fact we lack many necessary documents relating to Jean’s parents. As we go forward in the process, we will likely take this case to a local court so that the Kasongos can become Jean’s guardians in the eyes of the law.
Despite the complications, SWIRC is committed to working with the Kasongos until their legal issues are resolved, and they ALL can live peacefully as U.S. permanent residents. Like the Kasongos who opened their hearts to a child who desperately needed their help, every day at SWIRC, we open our hearts to immigrants and refugees who need our assistance. Thanks to our staff, volunteers, funders, and other supporters, we can work with families like the Kasonogos, even if finding a legal solution takes years to achieve. We can do this thanks to you.
The Southwest Detroit Immigrant and Refugee Center provides free and low-cost legal services to those who need them most in the Detroit area, with a focus on recent immigrants and refugees.
We were founded in 2014 by Kevin Piecuch, our Executive Director,
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Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash
