Catherine Norquist is a longtime Savior Member and employee of World Relief. Even though the Good Friday Gift is going to housing benefits for refugees, Catherine is working hard in a different department at World Relief. I believe it is helpful and encouraging to see Catherine’s work as well as understanding the vast services that World Relief provides to our refugee and immigrant neighbors. Please connect with Catherine’s words below and how her department is serving those in need.
What's the need your department addresses?
My department is the Immigration Legal Services Department and we function like a non-profit law firm/Legal Aid. We provide mainly family-based immigration legal services, helping immigrants and refugees navigate the complicated Immigration system here in the United States. Many immigrants can't afford a private attorney but our team consists of both Department of Justice Accredited Representatives and Immigration Attorneys who are providing high quality legal services at either low or no cost. We help people find out if they have a path to legal status in the United States, family reunification processes, immigration assistance for victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes to name a few things we do. This Fall we launched an Asylum Legal Clinic, which means we are helping people apply for asylum here in the United states and representing them at their asylum interviews with Immigration.
What are some examples of someone in this situation?
I'll answer this with a quote from one of our attorneys:
I have had a lot of consular processing (family reunification) interviews all over the world recently: Burma, Liberia, India, Mexico, Yugoslavia, and Ethiopia. Many of these families were separated due to civil war or ethnic conflict and are trying to reunite with children under 21, spouses, and parents. Most of these cases were delayed due to US government backlogs and then extra delayed due to the pandemic, and then further held up after the embassy interview by additional document requests. Even though these cases can seem like we overcome one obstacle just to run into another, this work is such a privilege to walk alongside our clients as an advocate; to reassure them that there WILL eventually be an end to the frustration and to celebrate with them when their loved one finally arrives in the USA.
Can you give a few examples of someone being helped?
Our first asylum case we took was for an Afghan woman who was a reporter in Afghanistan who was highlighting the abuses of the Taliban. She had received multiple death threats and had been harrassed by the Taliban multiple times. After she was evacuated to the United states in 2021, one of our attorneys decided to file her asylum case. The interview was this summer and we are hoping to hear any day now whether she has been approved for asylum. This would give her a path to legal permanent residency (a green card) and eventually US citizenship. We have also helped multiple Afghan men apply for asylum due to their assistance with the US Military and Special Forces in Afghanistan. We are still awaiting results from Immigration post their interviews.