Remain
Legal Aid Society’s Individual Rights and Social Justice Practice Group represents and advocates for victims of crime in cases including immigration relief
It felt scary for Ana, age eight, and Danilo, age 10, to sit in Immigration Court, waiting to hear whether they’d be allowed to stay with their parents in the United States after surviving exploitation by human traffickers.
It was just as scary for their mother, Danica, who sat in the back of the courtroom, and in addition to anxiety for her children, waited on legal status and work authorization for herself.
Hilary Chadwick, Supervising Attorney in the Legal Aid Society’s Individual Rights and Social Justice Group, sat right next to them.
For more than two years, she worked with the family, to:
So how did it feel when the family learned of the approval of their legal status, learned they wouldn’t have to go back to court or back to an abusive situation in their country of origin, after all they’d overcome?
“Tranquila,”
Danica says. “Calm. Like everything is going to be okay now.”
OUR mPACT