Help Support a Heroic Mother and Her Daughters

Hi Friends, I am trying to help my friend, a brave mother from Venezuela who arrived in the United States last year with her two young daughters and her own mother, seeking asylum after an arduous journey on foot. She has followed every legal step: applying for asylum, retaining an immigration attorney, and filing for her work permit. She is resourceful, strong is an understatement, smart, and listens and learns every day about how to legally navigate this process to give her family a safe life. While she waits—nearly a year later—for her permit to be approved this summer, she is renting a single room on the South Side of Chicago, which can be very unsafe, and cleaning homes while caring for her daughters. She isn’t looking for charity—she simply wants the opportunity to work legally and support her family, but the current delays in visa processing have made that nearly impossible.

I have gotten to know her little girls. They are 5 and 2. They are beautiful, happy, and they are examples of the stories of so many of our parents and grandparents. Going back to Venezuela is not an option, being separated from your children, which our government does without any concern, is all of our actual nightmares. She faces this possibility every day. She’s the strongest person I have ever met in my entire life.

Back in Venezuela, she worked in restaurants and in her mother’s dress shop; she is an incredibly meticulous, kind, and courageous person. We are raising funds to cover her legal expenses ($700 for her work permit and related paperwork) and to help with basic living costs until she is legally able to work. Even though she lives in a sanctuary city, increasing ICE presence—including in welcoming areas like Evanston—makes her future feel uncertain. Your contribution will go directly toward feeding two sweet little girls and supporting their mother’s effort to build a stable life. Any amount truly helps. I am looking forward to helping her and her family, and when it becomes safe to share more about her story and how she and the girls are doing.