Help us raise legal funds for our good friends, H. and B. (we are using pseudonym initials to protect their identities), who are currently navigating the lengthy, complex, and dangerous asylum seeking process in New York City!

We first met H. and B. while we were volunteering, serving hot meals with a group of neighbors outside one of our city’s impromptu migrant shelters, where they were living in dangerous, inhumane conditions.

When the city abruptly evicted the shelter’s occupants in the midst of winter, our new neighbors found themselves on the freezing streets with zero recourse and no place to go. Our community and circle of friends quickly came together to figure out emergency housing for the over 200 displaced men, activating a network of neighbors willing to open their homes to those who needed shelter. H. and B. moved in with us and we quickly became friends; sharing and making meals together, swapping playlists, and becoming confidants. Since then they have been able to secure full-time employment, enroll in English classes, and have become indispensable members of the community. 

To ensure H. and B.’s safety and success in this country, we are raising funds for their legal fees as they prepare for their final hearings. Without adequate representation, they face detention and deportation, which puts their lives at great risk. We are doing everything in our power to keep them safe. All money donated will go towards covering the cost of legal fees for our two friends. This effort is a continuation of so much community work that’s gone into supporting just two of our friends and neighbors. You can help us build upon this work; when systems fail, we have each other!

H. and B. have gone to great lengths to provide for themselves and their families, despite the difficulties posed by unstable housing, scarcity of work, and the full force of a racist federal project that is working around the clock to hurt the most vulnerable members of all our communities. Each of them constantly models what it means to be a caring and dedicated father, friend, and community member.

With love and in solidarity,

Ridgewood Queens in Ridgewood, Queens