Keep migrant families together

Hi my name is Nikki and I'm a community organizer living in Vancouver, BC. I first heard about Jesús through Sanctuary City, a collective dedicated to working with folks regardless of their status.  All the funds raised from this campaign will be used to help pay for the legal fees associated with appealing the decision made by the Immigration and Refugee Board, which stated that Jesús and his family weren't in need of protection.  All money raised by this campaign will be going directly to the family. 

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Zafiro, the daughter of Jesús and Isabel set up an ice cream stand a few weeks ago to help her family out, and raise money for the legal fees that would keep her family together.

Her family were living in the U.S. as an undocumented migrants, but left to seek asylum in Canada, as they feared family separation, or deportation back to Mexico, where her father was kidnapped.

The family are working on an appeal to seek asylum in Canada, however they need help raising money for the legal fees.

Can you help Zafiro raise money to keep families together? 


BACKGROUND

Jesús and his family are originally from Mexico but they fled to the U.S. shortly after he was kidnapped by a criminal organization and held for ransom. The U.S. has been their home for the past 15 years, but the current administration has jeopardized their safety. 

After seeing ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents take away their close friend, the family decided it was time to leave. Especially since the U.S. government had been separating families through deportation and detention. 

“We saw how immigration came and arrested parents, and kids were crying beside them. They took the kids into police cars and the parents in different cars, and took them separately to immigration.” (The Star)

And so they made the difficult decision to come to Canada to seek asylum. They came by foot across the border into British Columbia. Their family was rejected by legal aid last year, and their self-represented application for refugee status in Canada failed. 

"In ruling on the appeal on May 28, the Immigration and Refugee Board said the parents “are neither Convention refugees nor persons in need of protection” even though it had found “the appellants to be credible regarding what happened to them in Mexico” but that “the appellants are one of many victims of criminal organizations who engage in activities such as kidnapping and ransom … the fact that some individuals are more exposed to the risk does not necessarily make them persons in need of protection." 

The family filed a judicial review of that appeal June 14, and if that fails, their last chance is to be allowed to stay on compassionate and humanitarian grounds — but only if they can convince the government of the danger that drove them from in Mexico and the threat of family separation in the U.S." (The Star)


Zafiro and her family need your help in order to stay together.
Can you help them, and families like theirs by making a donation?