--- title: Immigration and Asylum date: 2023-08-01T09:24:00-04:00 author: Joe Batutis canonical_url: "https://www.kelleydrye.com/responsible-business/pro-bono/immigration-and-asylum" section: Pages --- # Immigration and Asylum Representing immigrant clients and their families seeking a safe and secure life in the United States. ![](https://d3iuizmsm2hayf.cloudfront.net/content/uploads/test-images/initiatives_immigration.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1880&q=80&w=1880&s=ab870076d3a3d8209fcf6986ab8d95b5) ## Our work Kelley Drye is committed to helping immigrant clients and their families find a new life in the United States including as advocates for refugee children who are in need of representation. Many of our cases involve people seeking refuge from political persecution, or from some other persecution that is a basis for requesting asylum under U.S. immigration law. Kelley Drye is committed to helping these individuals attain a life without fear. ## Border Immigration Project Since 2018, Kelley Drye has assisted women refugees who crossed the U.S./Mexico border near Laredo, Texas. These women were moved to flee from their home countries by persecution that often threatened their very lives. Kelley Drye personnel have assisted in myriad ways, including helping to prepare the women for credible fear interviews with asylum officers, assisting with release of detainees on bond, and presenting their claims for asylum to the immigration courts. These women have repeatedly expressed their heartfelt appreciation for our assistance, which often came just as they were beginning to lose hope for a better life. The firm is proud of its commitment to this worthy project, which builds on the firm’s history of representing clients in asylum cases. Kelley Drye lawyers and professionals who work on the Border Immigration Project cases report how rewarding the experience has been for them, both professionally and personally. ![](https://d3iuizmsm2hayf.cloudfront.net/content/uploads/Image-and-Text-Cards/Edwards_Colleen.webp?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=492&q=80&w=756&s=80e36d7282af7859fb2e1b2b12da1a8b) ## “This is a story of an immigrant’s courageous, heart-wrenching struggle, yet it was so inspirational, that we knew we had to learn immigration law for him to find peace.” - Colleen Edwards Colleen Edwards, Assisting Asylum Petitioners Navigate the Country’s Complex and Changing Immigration Laws ![](https://d3iuizmsm2hayf.cloudfront.net/content/uploads/Image-and-Text-Cards/Sripa_Jasmine.webp?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=492&q=80&w=756&s=daddb1ca62b79d788643e569c71c96f3) ## “Helping someone with an overwhelming struggle to figure out the legal process and remove the unjustified stigmas that they were facing is the best form of gratitude. - Jasmine Sripa Jasmine Sripa, Assisting Asylum Petitioners Navigate the Country’s Complex and Changing Immigration Laws ### Working to Represent an Individual Seeking Political Asylum in the U.S [Colleen Edwards](https://www.kelleydrye.com/Our-People/Colleen-V-Edwards) and [Jasmine Sripa](https://www.kelleydrye.com/Our-People/Jasmine-C-Sripa) work together at Kelley Drye as discovery attorneys. They are currently working to co-represent an individual seeking political asylum in the U.S. The client fled Guinea, Africa afraid for his life, because of his Fulani descent and his political opinions. He has survived a lifetime of persecution, of being oppressed, dehumanized, and threatened for having a voice that expressed views that opposed the government. Colleen and Jasmine’s client is seeking asylum under the United Nations Convention Against Torture, as he was in danger in Guinea for his political viewpoints and for being a member of The Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), a liberal political party. He and his brother helped organize and then attended a pro-democracy protest at a football stadium in Guinea, a protest that turned into what is now known as the 2009 Stadium Massacre. The government’s armed forces stormed the stadium, using guns and bayonets, while committing other heinous acts of violence against the attendees. Over 157 people were killed and more than 1,250 were injured. Human rights organizations have substantially documented the horrors of that day. The client’s brother received a death threat prior to the stadium protest, where he was ultimately strangled to death. For years afterwards, this client continued to be an active member of the UFDG group and to voice his opinion about what was going on in his country, until he too received a death threat. At that point, he fled the country, leaving behind his wife and two children. His journey required him to use various modes of transportation and took him through eight countries over the course of 10 months before he finally arrived in the United States. In 2017, the United States’ immigration process was in flux with more changes anticipated. Colleen and Jasmine wanted to use their talents as attorneys to do everything they could to ensure justice for their client. Their first priority was to represent the client at a hearing with U.S. Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement to argue that he did not need to wear an ankle monitor. He had been wearing the monitor for months after his release from detention and was subject to the criminal stigma it represented. This small device was a huge impediment to him securing work. Colleen and Jasmine were able to prove his identity, affirm that he was not a flight risk and ultimately were successful in getting the monitor removed. Jasmine remembers clearly the look of relief on the client’s face when it was finally taken off. No longer having the criminal stigma associated with wearing an ankle monitor, the client was able to secure a job that he still holds today. While representing this client, Colleen and Jasmine learned about hurdles in the immigration process, filled out many forms, affidavits, midnight filings—most of it during the COVID-19 pandemic. While it has been challenging on so many fronts, the rewards of seeing first-hand that Kelley Drye’s legal assistance has helped their client advance through the stages of the immigration process has been worth the effort. The team is looking forward to their day in immigration court early next year to plead for his asylum. ### Helping Venezuelan Citizens Who Have Been Persecuted for Their Political Beliefs Kelley Drye attorneys have provided pro bono services to several Venezuelan families, as part of Kelley Drye’s commitment to the Border Immigration Project, which helps refugees who crossed the border from Mexico into Texas. One family is seeking asylum as the father was imprisoned and physically attacked in Venezuela due to his political beliefs and activities, which were followed by multiple threats against the family. After they fled Venezuela, the family made a harrowing journey to the States that took over a week. After meeting the family at their first asylum hearing in the Fall of 2019, they were unfortunately sent back to Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program. After the MPP was terminated by the new Administration, Kelley Drye’s team was able to help them safely reenter the U.S. and file the asylum applications. They are waiting for the pending immigration trial. In another matter, Kelley Drye is representing a mother and a daughter who received notices for their asylum interviews less than five months after they had filed their own asylum applications. The Kelley Drye team secured an extension and prepared numerous documents telling the family’s story and documenting the conditions in Venezuela in advance of the interview. We represented them both at their interviews and the Chicago Immigration Office approved the daughter’s application and granted her asylum in 2022, and the mother’s asylum application was approved in 2023. The client is applying to colleges in the U.S. with hopes of receiving a volleyball scholarship.