Hi, my name is Jeffrey Harris. My teenage refugee friend fled Russia, made it to the United States, and is seeking asylum here. I have withheld the details from this story that could be used to identify him because his family back in Russia fears retaliatory persecution if the Russian government learns that he has defected to America.

The Russian military sought to conscript my friend beginning in 2021 during Russia’s preparations for their eventual invasion of Ukraine. He has copies of his multiple conscription summonses from the Russian military commissariat from 2021 and 2022 (both before and during the Ukraine war), as well as other documents related to the Russian government’s efforts to draft him and his family’s efforts to prevent his conscription. He chose to flee to the West rather than languish in the gulag or murder Ukrainian people. Fortunately he had enough help to get out of Russia to try to come to the United States—first to Eastern Europe where I met him in summer 2022, then to Mexico.

My friend called me from the border just after Thanksgiving to tell me he had made it to Mexico and was going to try to cross to the US to claim asylum, but that he was almost out of resources and had nowhere to go once in the US and needed help. He crossed the US-Mexico border legally through a regular port of entry checkpoint. Customs and Border Protection processed him and gave him an initial court venue for a removal hearing. A local charity helped him buy a plane ticket to fly from the border to Atlanta where I picked him up. I have been taking care of this young man ever since.

My friends in the Midwest have a long-term place for him to start his new life. They can take him in March, and I have our housing covered on the Gulf Coast until I can get him up north. I have had some help from several friends and family members, but now we are reaching the big ticket items on top of the everyday stuff and we could really use some help.

We managed to put together the money for his initial legal expenses and a junket across the country for his required court appearance, which was only docketed with a week's notice to us before he had to be there. Although his case is strong and straightforward, his successful defense in court comes at a substantial cost.

Our attorney has successfully transferred his case to the immigration court in the Midwestern metro area where my friend will get long-term housing in March. We have thus far been unable to secure pro bono legal aid help in the Midwest due to the timing of the immigration court docket there and the limited resources available from legal aid charities.

As our first attorney explained, we will need an attorney to help file his asylum paperwork and we will need an attorney in the Midwest to represent him in at least one more hearing there (possibly two hearings). The asylum paperwork filing will thankfully start a five-month clock after which time the refugee will be allowed to get a work permit and a Social Security number and can start working legally to support himself in the United States.

Any money we raise beyond our target amount will go to support the refugee.

We’re very optimistic not only because of the lawyer’s initial assessment of the case but also because the Department of Justice report from October said that that fiscal year’s completed asylum claims granted asylum to people fleeing Russia in 7 out of 8 cases. My friend has had a long and very lucky journey, and we are within sight of getting him asylum and a stable living situation where he can legally work to support himself. But we need a little more help to get there, and we very much appreciate any help y’all can give this kid.

Summer 2023 Update:

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has donated to support this kid! We appreciate your generosity so very much!

With your support, we were able to pay the attorney to file his asylum paperwork and represent him in court at his second hearing this summer. We had hoped that this would be his final court appearance but that did not turn out to be the case. He will have at least one more court date toward the end of the year. We have a terrific lawyer who has generously given us a discounted rate, but we still have a lot more legal expenses. Thank you all for your continued support!