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Help Reunite Separated Refugee Family - DONE

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Last summer our law firm took on the challenge of bringing David back from Guatemala and reuniting him with his 8 year old son Byron after having been separated and summarily and illegally deported through government coercion and lies. Byron was left behind. An 8 year old interned with no family in the US, and thus ineligible for sponsorship and release. But David and Byron fought back. Separated from his father in June of 2018, Byron now lives with a foster family in Austin, a family designated by his father to care for him until they are reunited. David is in hiding from criminal gangs in his home in Guatemala, gangs that have tortured him because of his evangelical preaching against a life of crime.  We successfully filed suit in federal court in Texas to have Byron released from internment, after almost 11 months of government custody. In the process Byron forced a change in federal rules governing the release of refugee children to non-family member sponsors. https://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/local/orr-must-send-foster-application-to-texas-family/article_685cf6da-5be1-11e9-b5d3-bf07ab7f8df2.html?mode=jqm. He has been lovingly cared for by Holly Sewell and her family, as designated by David, for over 6 months awaiting his father's return. https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-07-11/our-lost-son-migrant-boy-still-separated-from-parents  To reunite David and his son, our firm worked with the ACLU to petition a federal court in California for David's return. In the petition we provided evidence detailing the separation, David's unlawful deportation, and their hardship since they were cruelly torn apart. On September 4, 2019, the federal court found David's deportation to be unlawful and ordered his return to the US. https://abc6onyourside.com/news/nation-world/some-migrant-parents-deported-without-kids-can-return-to-us. We are now working out the details of David's return with the government.  All of our firm's work on behalf of David and his son has been provided pro-bono, and we will continue to work pro-bono until they are reunited and obtain permanent visas. However, now that we have established David's right to return, we are in dire need of funds to pay for his travel and relocation expenses. Funds raised will be used to pay for bus and air tickets to bring David back, air tickets for Byron to meet his father in California, as well as ancillary travel expenses, loss of wages in the relocation, and expenses related to setting up their new American lives with their sponsors in the San Francisco Bay Area.  It has been a long and hard legal road for David and Byron, but their nightmare will soon be over. They will enter our American fabric as a reunited family. Please help us welcome David - and join us in basking in Byron's joy at having his father back. https://youtu.be/1FTGVxgZWXg  David and Byron are but  two of many separated refugee families to whom we provide pro-bono legal services. Please consider joining us.  reunitefamili.es deandalawfirm.com
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  • Nancy Ervin
    • $20 
    • 4 yrs
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Organizer

Ricardo de Anda
Organizer
Laredo, TX

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