We participated in a Veteran’s Day letter writing campaign in November 2017, sending approximately 50 letters to Congress and state attorneys general appealing for protection of the MAVNI program, which allowed certain non-citizens to join the U.S. military and immediately apply for U.S. citizenship. Following the campaign, Partner Philip Curtis received a phone call from Michael E. Capuano, United States Representative, thanking him for the Firm’s efforts.
Our Firm drafted “bond packages” to help asylum seekers get released from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Karnes City, Texas so that they can join their families in the U.S. while seeking to obtain asylum. This project is in collaboration with RAICES (the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services), a non-profit organization providing legal services to people in detention in south Texas. We handled more than 20 packets since initiating this project in September 2019.
The following is an open to letter that was sent last week to our entire WR Immigration staff from the DEIA committee. We share it here in hopes that its invitation might also prove fruitful to all WR Immigration circles. Dear WR Immigration Family, We are heartbroken by the mass shootings that have occurred over the past week. The Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Committee is inviting the firm to reflect on these tragedies and the responsibility we hold, both individually and at the collective level, to build communities that are safe, welcoming, and tolerant for all. We stand with those who have lost loved ones to senseless acts of violence this week motivated by racism and hate. In particular, we would like to express our condolences to the Black community in Buffalo, New York who was targeted in a mass shooting by a self-described fascist and white supremacist. The perpetrator killed 10 innocent shoppers and left 3 wounded when he opened fire at a grocery store in Buffalo. He left behind a heinous manifesto espousing a conspiratorial belief in “white replacement” as a consequence of immigration policies, as well as racist beliefs about Blacks and Jews. In addition, […]
