Bring the Chen Family Home
Hi!
My name is Sean, and I am a neighbor of Tingjun (a researcher at Mayo Clinic), Chunhua/Kate (a teacher at a local childcare center), and their daughter Jiaxuan (Daisy). Their visas, which are exceptional person's visas (due to Tingjun's research), expired this past April, and their family of three temporarily relocated to Mexico for what they expected would be a one-week trip so they could complete a visa interview. That one week turned into four months in a country where they had no means of work and did not know the language, desperately awaiting news that they could return home. Unfortunately, this has led to many hardships, and they are seeking a way to come back to their home in the US and continue working. These are good people and amazing neighbors who engage in our local community with love and care, and do their best to help everyone around them.
They have been in contact with a lawyer from Mayo who is working on their case. Unfortunately, this process has been very slow because of the pandemic, and is leading to a multitude of problems. Kate's mother passed away from cancer because they couldn't afford to send her funds to continue her treatment; Daisy feels terribly isolated, and is finding it impossible to make friends in a country where she doesn't know the language; Tinjun's research is at a standstill; and they cannot fly back to China to live with family until this situation calms down because China is locked down and has strict requirements that they can't meet in Mexico. Due to a change in the processing of their visa rewnewal, they now may have to travel to Canada, which will add significant costs to their situation.
On top of all of that, they have a mortgage and car loans at risk of defaulting and are facing financial challenges as they try to pay for food, internet, phones, and temporary housing in a foreign country . Any help that we can give to them would go far in assisting them in surviving these challenges and allowing them to return to a normal life back at home when their visas are renewed. There is also a change.org petition that you can sign, and more of their story that you can read here: https://www.change.org/chenfamily
