Hi, Friends.

I'd like to introduce you to a wonderful family from Haiti. About 30 years ago I met two sisters, Germilia (but we all call her Janice) and Delivrance, when they were allowed to visit the U.S. with my youth pastors. As a young teacher-in-training, I spent time with Delivrance, laughing, reading and chatting as we worked on her English skills. I expect that I got more out of the experience than she did.

Fast forward to 2024, and the sisters have finally been allowed to return to the U.S., and they brought with them Janice's husband, Fito, and their young daughter, Abi. It has been an inextricably arduous and costly road to navigate the U.S. immigration system, but Janice's tenacity and resilience is amazing. She follows every lead, from hours searching on the internet to conversations with other immigrants or their allies.

She has met with five different lawyers in this process. They applied for Temporary Protective Status (TPS) in September as immigrants from Haiti, and are still waiting for that status to be finalized. The timeline has changed a few times on this due to the changes in the U.S. administration, and they have a real fear of being sent back to Haiti. Without the TPS application in process, they would have had to self-deport earlier this year.

When they lived in Haiti, in spite of the violence brought by the gangs that controlled their city, they worked hard to create a small business that sustained them. However, one day they were violently attacked and all of the merchandise from their business was stolen from them. Both of the sisters have permanent scars from the attack. It is a heartbreaking story.

My youth pastors were able to help them flee the violence of Haiti and they arrived with only a small bag for each of them. During the past year, in addition to applying for TPS, they have taken English classes, enrolled their daughter in elementary school (where unfortunately she has been the target of bullying words by classmates threatening to call 911 to have her deported), and found jobs cleaning the local church and working at Walmart.

Janice has located a new lawyer to help them apply for asylum. Initially she feared that she would not be able to prove that Haiti is dangerous for them; medical records are impossible to retrieve, but their new lawyer has said that photos of their scars as well as the police report filed at the time of the attack will suffice as proof. They are waiting now to receive the police report from Haiti.

The fees for the asylum process and lawyer fees are cost-prohibitive for this family to cover on their own. With your help, they will be able to move forward as soon as possible with the asylum process. All funds raised here will go directly to the family to cover the costs of gaining asylum for all of them. Any additional funds raised will go to job training for more stable employment. We are hopeful that they will be able to stay in the U.S. safely and that the stress of the unknown regarding their immigration status will be removed.

Thank you for any and all help that you can give. Please share their story with your people. This is an amazing family. All they want is to live safely in the U.S.