Support Amanda Morales Guerrera and the Due Process Fund.
Support Amanda Morales Guerrera and the Due Process Fund.
Latest: Dec. 13, 2017
Case Update
Hello Donors!
My name is Geoff Kagan-Trenchard, I’m Amanda’s lawyer.
Thank you so much for all your help. I have an update on the case.
In September we asked the court in Texas that ordered …
Read moreWe are raising funds to help immigrants who are under attack.
Amanda's Story
Amanda Morales Guerra fled Guatemala and came to America after a local gang threatened to kidnap her. After years of cooperating with ICE and checking in every few months, ICE is now trying to deport her because of Trump's policies.
Amanda fears returning to Guatemala because a drug cartel is terrorizing her family. Rather than return to a country where she may be killed, she took sanctuary in Holyrood Episcopal Church. She’s currently staying there with her 3 US citizen children.
Next steps for Amanda's case will be to ask ICE to grant her a Reasonable Fear Interview (the first step in applying for asylum) and to ask the court where she was ordered deported to reopen her case because the conditions in the country have changed.
What you can do to help
We are raising funds for Amanda's legal team, but we're also trying to help the next family Trump attacks.
The New Sanctuary Coalition of NYC is an interfaith network that is helping Amanda. We also run a weekly free legal clinic, accompany immigrants to their court dates, and create events to support the immigrant community.
Every week at the clinic we meet people just like Amanda. People who have very time sensitive legal issues and need more help than the clinic can provide. Free legal services were often over capacity before the Trump Administration took office, and now the pressures on those organizations are even greater. We are looking for help not only with Amanda's case but to help create a fund to pay attorneys and other supports to help with these kinds emergencies. The funds will be used to cover both legal expenses and support supplies (food, clothes, etc).
This kind of support can mean the difference between life and death,
between getting a fair day in court and having their family ripped apart.
Thank you for all that you can do.
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New Sanctuary Coalition
Dec. 13, 2017
Case Update
Hello Donors!
My name is Geoff Kagan-Trenchard, I’m Amanda’s lawyer.
Thank you so much for all your help. I have an update on the case.
In September we asked the court in Texas that ordered Amanda deported
in 2004 to reopen her case. Because of the way the Immigration Laws
are written, the only legal argument we were allowed to make was that
Guatemala had become so much more dangerous since she left the case
should be reopened. We asked the court to allow her to have a fair day
in court. We provided half a dozen reputable news sources, State
Department travel warnings, and even included sworn affidavits from
her brothers who were in the military on how the cartel had targeted
her family.
The judge denied our motion anyway.
Our next step is to petition the Board of Immigration Appeals to
reopen her case. We’ll also be asking that they grant her the Stay of
Deportation that ICE has denied. This would allow her to leave the
church with her children and not worry she could be detained at any
moment.
I’ll also be working with experts on cartel violence in the region to
prepare written testimony about exactly how dangerous it would be for
Amanda if she were forced to return. I’ll be working with the social
workers and therapists that have been supporting Amanda and her
children to show how ICE’s actions are traumatizing them. I’ll be
consulting with other attorneys who are experts in this very
complicated specialization in an already complicated area of law.
And even then, success is by no means guaranteed.
We appreciate any help you can provide, even if it’s just resharing this page.
I also want you to know that I haven’t taken any of this money for my
fees, and won’t until Amanda is able to leave the church. I want to
make sure that if Amanda is detained and needs to pay a Bond in order
to be released, we have a bail fund ready to go.
Thank you again,
Geoff
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