Sam's Freedom Fund

A JOYFUL REUNION!!!

Just after Midnight, Sam's family completed their 6,579 mile journey to reunite at JFK airport in New York City. A father held his newborn (now 11-month old) son for the first time. They are a rare success story today of a family approved for legal immigration in America.

Thanks to all donors, the family was able to immediately move into a partially furnished apartment. Just two weeks ago, the only option was a family homeless shelter. The family is extremely grateful to each person who contributed to help them in their resettlement in America. 

With all their assets frozen in their home country, the family could still use help with setting up the basics in the home. Thank you for donations of any amount.

Kevin and Eric


------------------------------------


EXCITEMENT AND ANXIETY: A family separated for 1.5 years will soon reunite in NYC THIS WEEK, but urgently needs financial help with for housing the family. All of the family's assets back home are frozen and they have little money. Will you help with a donation?

After more than 500 days, this family from West Africa will be reunited with a husband and father who successfully gained asylum in America. Next week, they will finally reunite in America as legal residents, one of a small fraction of families being granted legal immigration status this year.

URGENT HELP NEEDED: An apartment has been identified in New Jersey, which is available for immediate move-in, but he is short the funds needed for rent, deposits and broker fees. Of the $3,750 required for move-in, we have raised $2,700. (Previous GoFundMe donations were used to help Sam get his 1-bedroom apartment after he was freed from detention).

Sam, who faced execution due to religious persecution, was granted legal asylum by a US Immigration judge in June 2018, after he spent more than seven months in a corporate-run immigration jail near Newark airport. Sam is overjoyed and grateful to the US for providing safety to his family.  Nearly 12 months after his infant son was born, he will finally hold his baby son for the first time next week.

Thanks to donations from family, friends, Catholic Charities, Seafarers International, First Friends of New Jersey and New York and Miles for Migrants, the family obtained visas and donated airline tickets for a long 17-hour journey from West Africa to New York City. (Note: we can't show the above photo of the family's beautiful faces because they still live in fear of a vigilante group).  

Samuel was doing very well in the first six months since he was granted asylum. Unfortunately, he suffered a painful leg injury, which prohibited him from continuing his job of stocking shelves overnight at Whole Foods. This week, he has surgery for torn meniscus in his knee, and then will begin rehab to relieve arthritis.  He has approached several housing agencies in New York and New Jersey for housing assistance, but unfortunately there is a long list of people ahead of him. 

If you are uncomfortable with donating via GoFundMe, we can provide information to make a direct deposit to Samuel's Bank of America account. If you need a tax receipt, please send us a message and we can ask a charity for help.

Thank you for your consideration.
Kevin Tuerff and Eric Porter

P.S. Below is Sam's story from last year year.

------------
In June 2018, we launched this GoFundMe for Sam to help him with his re-settlement. We are grateful to several friends who donated more than $6,000 to help him. After six months, this fund was depleted to use funds for Samuel's first 1-bedroom apartment. Below is our first post with Sam's story:

Meet Sam. After seven long months in a run-down corporate-run immigration detention center (jail) near Newark Airport, a US Immigration Judge recently granted asylum to Sam, a foreigner from Africa we befriended there last November. An immigration judge issued a written order granting asylum, but it took four days before he would be released into the empty warehouse district at night, on short notice.

Sam took his first breath of fresh air, and finally saw the sun for the first time in seven months. After we took him out to a celebratory dinner, he was able to video chat with his worried wife,  and three other children, and see newborn baby boy for the first time, back in Africa.  

Last October, he was forced to flee his home and leave them behind because a vigilante group wanted him dead. If the judge had denied Isaac’s asylum case, he would have been deported to his home country, and thus handed a potential death sentence. Expert testimony during his immigration hearing verified there is no way he could return home without being discovered by the vigilantes.

He came to America because he sought safety from religious persecution. Conditions inside the immigration jail are so poor, he delighted in getting one hour per week in the visitation area from Kevin, his first friend in America.  The visitations were a warmer, quieter and friendlier place than the 40-person dorm under a tin roof warehouse where he spent days and many sleepless nights on a plastic cot. Sam was known as “Mr. Good Man” by fellow detainees because he believed in performing acts of kindness to other detainees. He’d use his small commissary funds to buy food for others, talk with detainees who were disliked, and pray with men from different countries and faiths. 

Sam came to the US with only $1,000, but somehow it was lost or stolen while he was initially being interviewed by US Immigration agents at the airport.  

Sam is only free because of American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and White and Williams, LLP, a New York City law firm which donated their services to help him with his case in immigration court. Eric Porter led a team of other volunteer attorneys who don’t specialize in immigration. Like Kevin, they just wanted to help. An AILA attorney provided technical consulting to Eric and his team about immigration law.

Sam will need continued prayers and support as he transitions to resettlement in the United States. Thanks to First Friends of NJ/NY, he has temporary housing for two months. He has no money and no family or friends in the US. As soon as he receives his work permit (up to 90 days from now), he’ll need a job and permanent housing. He's anxious to begin work, so he can send money home to his wife and four children. He's currently enrolled in job placement, advanced English speaking classes through Catholic Charities.

The next big challenge is to reunite his wife and family from Africa. They are still living in fear of the vigilantes and face unpaid hospital bills from the birth of the newborn baby. 

What is remarkable is just four days after he was granted his freedom, Sam returned to the detention center as a visitor to support other detainees. He hopes to start a legacy of detainees supporting each other, during and after detention. 

Please consider a donation of any amount to help welcome this new refugee to America.