Abelardo's Asylum Journey
Donation protected
Please help us support our dear friend Abelardo Cabal Escobar in the next phase of his asylum journey.
Abelardo is from Colombia. He has a degree in economics, but his passion is political theater. For 20 years, he ran theater workshops with student activists at Colombia’s Pedagogical and Technological University (U.P.T.C.) and performed as a storyteller, sharing narratives that contained tacit commentaries on Colombia’s government.
However, Abelardo’s cultural activism put him at risk. For years, he received threats, but they became harder to ignore after his brother, Raúl, was assassinated by paramilitary fighters in Colombia’s armed conflict. Finally, in 2017, Abelardo decided he would no longer be safe in Colombia. With the help of his grown children, he bought a plane ticket to Dallas. Maybe, just maybe, he thought, he could obtain political asylum in the U.S., find work, and eventually start a new theater career.
Abelardo arrived in the U.S. in September, 2017, and Grisha Krivchenia invited him to stay in The Commons, a Santa Fe co-housing community. With Grisha’s help, Abelardo began the asylum application process. It took months to gather all the necessary documents, then more long months of waiting. During this time, the U.S. government made no provision for Abelardo’s housing, food, healthcare, or legal aid; he had to depend on the kindness of friends and neighbors, couch-surfing from house to house at The Commons and working odd jobs. He also spent long hours studying English. Often, he went without food in order to send home money to his family.
In May of 2019, Abelardo finally received an answer from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Enforcement: asylum application denied. Ignoring the fact that the Colombian government routinely assassinates political activists , the U.S. government argued that Abelardo’s life would not be in danger if he returned to Colombia.
Fortunately, Abelardo had the help of an excellent pro-bono attorney, Allegra Love, founder of the Santa Fe Dreamers Project . She explained that asylum decisions can be appealed in court—twice. But Santa Fe is in the El Paso immigration court district, and judges are currently approving less than 10% of asylum appeals. If Abelardo wants to have any hope of winning, Allegra said, he needs to move to another court district. So Abelardo made the difficult decision to leave Santa Fe.
Now Abelardo is preparing to move to California in August, 2019. Although the U.S. government has finally issued him a temporary work permit, it may take him several months to find a stable job and a place to live. We, his friends and neighbors in Santa Fe, are raising money to send him off with a parting gift so that he can have a cushion to land on as he starts this next important and challenging phase of his life.
Thank you for any support you are willing to offer Abelardo! It will mean the world to his community of friends and neighbors in Santa Fe if we know he will be ok as he transitions to California.
Abelardo is from Colombia. He has a degree in economics, but his passion is political theater. For 20 years, he ran theater workshops with student activists at Colombia’s Pedagogical and Technological University (U.P.T.C.) and performed as a storyteller, sharing narratives that contained tacit commentaries on Colombia’s government.
However, Abelardo’s cultural activism put him at risk. For years, he received threats, but they became harder to ignore after his brother, Raúl, was assassinated by paramilitary fighters in Colombia’s armed conflict. Finally, in 2017, Abelardo decided he would no longer be safe in Colombia. With the help of his grown children, he bought a plane ticket to Dallas. Maybe, just maybe, he thought, he could obtain political asylum in the U.S., find work, and eventually start a new theater career.
Abelardo arrived in the U.S. in September, 2017, and Grisha Krivchenia invited him to stay in The Commons, a Santa Fe co-housing community. With Grisha’s help, Abelardo began the asylum application process. It took months to gather all the necessary documents, then more long months of waiting. During this time, the U.S. government made no provision for Abelardo’s housing, food, healthcare, or legal aid; he had to depend on the kindness of friends and neighbors, couch-surfing from house to house at The Commons and working odd jobs. He also spent long hours studying English. Often, he went without food in order to send home money to his family.
In May of 2019, Abelardo finally received an answer from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Enforcement: asylum application denied. Ignoring the fact that the Colombian government routinely assassinates political activists , the U.S. government argued that Abelardo’s life would not be in danger if he returned to Colombia.
Fortunately, Abelardo had the help of an excellent pro-bono attorney, Allegra Love, founder of the Santa Fe Dreamers Project . She explained that asylum decisions can be appealed in court—twice. But Santa Fe is in the El Paso immigration court district, and judges are currently approving less than 10% of asylum appeals. If Abelardo wants to have any hope of winning, Allegra said, he needs to move to another court district. So Abelardo made the difficult decision to leave Santa Fe.
Now Abelardo is preparing to move to California in August, 2019. Although the U.S. government has finally issued him a temporary work permit, it may take him several months to find a stable job and a place to live. We, his friends and neighbors in Santa Fe, are raising money to send him off with a parting gift so that he can have a cushion to land on as he starts this next important and challenging phase of his life.
Thank you for any support you are willing to offer Abelardo! It will mean the world to his community of friends and neighbors in Santa Fe if we know he will be ok as he transitions to California.
Fundraising team: Abelardo's Support Team (3)
Eleanor Stevens
Organizer
Santa Fe, NM
Abelardo Cabal Escobar
Team member
Alice Ladas
Team member
