Help Alfonso Keep Asylum
Donation protected
We are raising funds for our friend, Alfonso (name changed for privacy), who is seeking funds to hire a lawyer, so he can fight deportation and keep his asylum in the US.
Alfonso was born in Guatemala, but grew up in Delaware, after arriving to the US when he was a young child. As a child and teen, Alfonso was active in a local church, volunteered taking care of animals, and worked a variety of part-time jobs. He graduated from high school and started attending community college in Delaware. Alfonso is also gay, and as he began to express his preferences while in high school, a rift developed between him and his family, and his home was no longer a safe, accepting place for him. As a result, Alfonso suffered intermittent homelessness, even as he attended college and worked part-time jobs.
In 2017, when he was about 22, Alfonso won asylum in the Baltimore Immigration Court, after a judge found that he would suffer persecution in Guatemala as a young gay man. While this was a positive moment in Alfonso's life, he still struggled to find safe and accepting relationships in his life, as well as to find stable work and housing.
Unfortunately, in 2019, he was convicted for shoplifting a purse and shoes. As a result of these convictions, he was incarcerated for more than 7 months, and then was transferred to immigration detention in the York County Prison, in York, PA. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has filed a motion seeking to terminate Alfonso's asylum, arguing that he should lose his asylum status because of his shoplifting convictions. DHS is also seeking to deport Alfonso to Guatemala, where a judge has already found that he would suffer persecution.
Alfonso is detained and alone, facing an overwhelmingly consequential moment in his life--deportation-- and needs a lawyer to advocate on his behalf. Unfortunately, because there are no public defenders in immigration court, unless Alfonso gets one of the very few pro bono attorneys, he will have to represent himself in court, or find a way to hire a lawyer. Alfonso does not have the money to hire a lawyer himself and no pro bono lawyer is available to represent him.
Alfonso is still a young man, and a young man with promise and a future. While Alfonso recognizes that he made a mistake in shoplifting, he has already served more than 7 months in jail as a result, and has paid the consequences of his mistake. Termination of his asylum status and deportation to Guatemala are not proportional consequences to those mistakes.
We ask that you will join us in supporting our friend, Alfonso, and help him have the legal advocacy and accompaniment he deserves at this very critical moment in his life. Thank you!
Alfonso was born in Guatemala, but grew up in Delaware, after arriving to the US when he was a young child. As a child and teen, Alfonso was active in a local church, volunteered taking care of animals, and worked a variety of part-time jobs. He graduated from high school and started attending community college in Delaware. Alfonso is also gay, and as he began to express his preferences while in high school, a rift developed between him and his family, and his home was no longer a safe, accepting place for him. As a result, Alfonso suffered intermittent homelessness, even as he attended college and worked part-time jobs.
In 2017, when he was about 22, Alfonso won asylum in the Baltimore Immigration Court, after a judge found that he would suffer persecution in Guatemala as a young gay man. While this was a positive moment in Alfonso's life, he still struggled to find safe and accepting relationships in his life, as well as to find stable work and housing.
Unfortunately, in 2019, he was convicted for shoplifting a purse and shoes. As a result of these convictions, he was incarcerated for more than 7 months, and then was transferred to immigration detention in the York County Prison, in York, PA. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has filed a motion seeking to terminate Alfonso's asylum, arguing that he should lose his asylum status because of his shoplifting convictions. DHS is also seeking to deport Alfonso to Guatemala, where a judge has already found that he would suffer persecution.
Alfonso is detained and alone, facing an overwhelmingly consequential moment in his life--deportation-- and needs a lawyer to advocate on his behalf. Unfortunately, because there are no public defenders in immigration court, unless Alfonso gets one of the very few pro bono attorneys, he will have to represent himself in court, or find a way to hire a lawyer. Alfonso does not have the money to hire a lawyer himself and no pro bono lawyer is available to represent him.
Alfonso is still a young man, and a young man with promise and a future. While Alfonso recognizes that he made a mistake in shoplifting, he has already served more than 7 months in jail as a result, and has paid the consequences of his mistake. Termination of his asylum status and deportation to Guatemala are not proportional consequences to those mistakes.
We ask that you will join us in supporting our friend, Alfonso, and help him have the legal advocacy and accompaniment he deserves at this very critical moment in his life. Thank you!
Organizer
Abigail Moyer
Organizer
Silver Spring, MD