Our client has been released from Otay Mesa after six grueling months
Our partner Immigrant Defenders shared good news this week! We are so proud of all of the translators on our Haitian Creole team, led by Krystel Alexandre, for their tireless work to support asylum seekers. We are so happy that our client Josie is finally safe and free.
“We are proud to share the news that our client was released from Otay Mesa after six grueling months! At 22 years-old, our client Josie fled political persecution from her home country Haiti. When she arrived she encountered a heartless immigration system including an asylum officer who made a negative Credible Fear finding despite the persecution she fled. Luckily the Immigration Judge later reviewed and vacated this false finding. Had she not had our legal guidance, Josie would have surely been deported back to the place she feared the most.
While in ICE custody sadly Josie contracted COVID-19. ICE has been the culprit of over 5,000 positive COVID cases because of their inability to provide a safe place to social distance, adequate soap and sanitizer, nor timely PPE for people in their custody. This is why we say #FreeThemAll. After spending six months in ICE's Otay Mesa immigration prison, Josie is finally free!
With the crucial support of Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network, her $20k bond was paid in full. We thank and celebrate this win with our partners National Bail Fund Network, Respond Crisis Translation, Haitian Bridge Alliance, Haitian Immigrant Bail Assistance Fund, and Mark Lane and the Minority Humanitarian Foundation. Thanks to Miles4Migrants she is now flying to her sponsor in Florida. It takes a village indeed”
