Gay Torture Victim - Asylum case

This is a campaign to raise legal fees for an asylum case based on anti-gay torture. The torture was at the hands of a criminal gang in Bogotá, Colombia. The victim now lives in the US. He reported the gang members to the police because they robbed his mother's home. (He did not know at that time that they were part of a gang.) The robbers knew he was gay because they had rented rooms in his mother's home.

The gang kidnapped and horrifically raped and tortured him in Bogotá, then pursued him to a distant city in Colombia. He had gone to the home of a relative in that distant city to flee the gang. After they pursued him that far, the family knew he had to leave the country. They borrowed money to get him out.

Much of the work on his case has already been done by the nonprofit Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) in Washington State, where the young man was in immigration detention. But he subsequently moved to Connecticut, where his sponsor lives. Once he left Washington State NWIRP could no longer represent him.

I am an attorney collaborating with NWIRP to raise the money needed to finish his asylum case. My name is Michelle Mentzer. My WA State Bar Association number is 15989. I first got to know the young man as his pen pal while he was in detention in Washington. He has no work permit, and only finds sporadic under-the-table jobs. He can barely support himself. Legal costs are not feasible. I created this Go Fund Me page to raise his legal fees.

I have read the young man’s case file and his suffering is unimaginable: anal electric current, gang rape, and teeth knocked out, while being subjected to homophobic verbal abuse. After these events the mother of his child rejected him for being gay, and refused him all contact with his child, who was the center of his world. Now he is continents away from the support of his mother and sister. And living in poverty in a country where he does not speak the language, and with fear of deportation.

Even before the events described above, this man suffered severe anti-gay discrimination in Colombia. He was closeted, even to his own family, because his environment was very conservative and Catholic. But many people, including his bosses at work, suspected he was gay because he spent a lot of time with one "friend" over the course of 8 years. And they punished him for it.

He was so closeted and ill-informed about his rights that in his Credible Fear Interview upon arrival in the US he did not mention being gay and said nothing about the anti-gay aspects of the violence he suffered -- only that there was physical violence. He thought being gay would make him an undesirable immigrant.

I first tried non-profit organizations, pro bono, gay rights organizations, and law school immigration clinics, to no avail. The immigration legal system is choked -- too many cases and everyone is full-up. The only way to get him representation is to pay for it. He is a lovely person but does not have the educational level to represent himself.

Two reputable immigration law firms in Connecticut have offered to represent him for $5,000. We chose one of the firms and must now raise the funds so he can get the representation he deserves. (The total is $5,155 with the 3.1% Go Fund Me service charge)

Please forward this to anyone in your social or professional circle who may be interested. Thank you so much!