Date
Most of us don’t like change because the unknown is scary. Yet life has changed in massive ways so many times for Fernando that I wonder if he’s gotten used to it. He certainly is a very easy-going, laid-back guy considering that and the trauma he’s experienced and witnessed. When we picked him up from the airport it was a sunny but cold day–probably high 40s and definitely the coldest he had experienced. In late May, Michigan is still mostly brown and dead but I’m betting anything looks pretty good after almost 1.5 years in detention.
Our house is on the smaller size and sound travels quite easily, but Fernando is very conscientious and quiet. He also helps mow the lawn, walks the dogs, laid our woodchips in the spring, and did a massive chunk of the hauling and spreading of sand on our little beach (we live in a subdivision on a 10-acre man-made pond). He asks us every day what he can help with and he thanks us every day after supper even if he made his own dinner. If you ask Fernando “How are you?” he always responds “I am good, thank you God!”. It’s been a reminder to me of how much I have to be thankful for.
It’s not all rainbows and butterflies, of course. There are miscommunications a-plenty largely due to the language barrier. Most of the frustration is on my side because I am an impatient person and but this has been a good experience convicting me. I’m also very anal with cleanliness and I’m trying to lighten up in some situations and communicate better in others. We knew it was going to be an adjustment to have another person in our life after 10 years alone. But it’s such a trivial “sacrifice” in comparison to what disciples of Christ and Jesus himself have made for us and others.
Asylum Application Next Steps
Asylum-seekers are put on an “asylum clock” that determines their eligibility for a work permit following their submission of an asylum application. They become eligible to file for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) 150 days after filing a “complete” asylum application and can receive an EAD 180 days after filing a “complete” asylum application. We also discovered that an asylum seeker can call a hotline (1-800-898-7180) to check the status of their clock, as well as info on the next hearing date, asylum processing information, decision information, case appeal information, or filing information. Fernando discovered that by calling this number that he was eligible to apply for a work permit! So I went online to start that process and soon realized that since Fernando had a record of arrest in El Salvador, he needed to provide proof that he was not charged with any crime (he was arrested due to affiliation with the gang, but was innocent, and this was later proven so he does not have a criminal record). This raised a whole new level of complications.
As I mentioned in the first post, Fernando told us that El Salvador is very inefficient and disorganized when it comes to paperwork. The information we could find said that someone needed to go the courthouse in El Salvador and get a copy of the arrest record. At one point Fernando wired his sister $250 for this, for traveling and for hiring a lawyer (he has been able to make some money by doing odd jobs for some of our friends). The sister said that she got to the courthouse and was somewhere around $50 short. It is debatable if this was actually the case because his sister is very opportunistic and has wheedled money out of him or outright cheated him in the past. On the other hand, Fernando says an average person’s daily wage is $9, so a $50 difference isn’t insignificant.
Fernando has another friend but she is a single mother and because of the gang violence, traveling several hours to the courthouse really isn’t feasible. The friend thought she found a lawyer who would help but there’s still the uncertainty of wiring money essentially into a black hole.
We were able to make several appointments at the consulate in Chicago online at this website. We made an appointment to get a new DUI (El Salvador identification card which was lost by Mexican police when he was released from detention), passport, and the arrest record. The only identification he did have was a photocopy of the DUI. We were very nervous about this appointment and my mom graciously drove him so we didn’t have to take off work. Thankfully the copied document was considered valid and he was able to get a passport for $60 in about 45 minutes. For the court document, they gave Fernando this website to order a copy. He was very disappointed because he doesn’t have confidence he will receive anything. We filled out and submitted payment for the document over two weeks ago, so we are just crossing our fingers and praying.
Post Detention Next Steps
Fernando received some complimentary assistance from a lawyer at Al Otro Lado, which provides holistic legal and humanitarian support to indigent refugees, deportees, and other migrants in the US and Tijuana through a multidisciplinary, client-centered, harm reduction-based practice. They advised us on paperwork to fill out to notify ICE and Homeland Security of his change of address. He was then scheduled to meet with an ICE officer for a check-in in Grand Rapids.
The person in Grand Rapids was with an organization called ISAP (Intensive Supervision Appearance Program). Fernando reports to her via a phone call and GPS tracking through an app each week and a video call once per month.
As far as his asylum appeal, Fernando isn’t hopeful. The definition for what qualifies a person for asylum is broad, arbitrary, and nearly impossible to satisfy.
Countless asylum seekers have been sent to their deaths, and many more returned to egregious harms... because of the willfully distorted interpretation of three words in the refugee definition. Those words are “particular social group” (“PSG”). The Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), a tribunal with the power to create legally binding nationwide precedents, has upended law, policy, and sheer logic to define “PSG” in a way that practically ensures the denial of asylum claims – with a special eye toward those of Central Americans.
In the next post, I’ll be discussing other options, delicious pupusas, and some daily challenges I’ve never had to consider before Fernando.
