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Art credit: Emulsify and The Center for Cultural Power
Dear friends and supporters,
Santa Fe Dreamers Project (SFDP) is excited to share with you updates from SFDP’s Trans and LGBTQ+ Border Asylum Project.
While the border between the U.S. and Mexico currently remains closed per Title 42,SFDP continues to provide remote legal support to more than 50 Trans and LGBTQ+ folks in Juarez, Mexico to prepare them to apply for asylum when the border reopens.
Additionally we are doing nation-wide outreach to find sponsors who are willing and able to open their homes to Trans and LGBTQ+ migrants seeking asylum who will likely be detained in ICE prisons if they do not have a safe place to be released.
With great pleasure and excitement, SFDP announces our #WelcomeHome #EstasEnCasa Trans and LGBTQ+ Sponsorship Campaign!
Santa Fe Dreamers Project is calling on communities across the country to become a sponsor and #WelcomeHome Trans and LGBTQ+ asylum seekers to your communities.
Take action and support the #WelcomeHome #EstasEnCasa campaign by doing the following:
What’s happening with Trans and LGBTQ+ Asylum Seekers at the border now?
Whereas the Biden administration's recent steps to undo Trump era immigration policies are beginning to permit some asylum seekers to enter the US (those with open cases who were forced to remain in Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols or MPP), many more folks being prevented from seeking asylum altogether and / or they are being returned to Mexico or their home countries due to Title 42.
This includes more than 50 Trans and LGBTQ+ asylum seekers with whom SFDP has established contact who are being forced to wait in Mexico in uncertain and frequently dangerous conditions, not unlike those which prompted their migration from their home countries to the border in the first place.
In addition to remote legal support, we recognize that the current border closure places us in the unique position of being able to canvas for Trans and LGBTQ+ competent sponsors for each of our clients before they enter the US. By securing a sponsor for each of our clients before they enter the U.S., we can be ready so that when the border reopens we can request that the government exercise its discretion to release our clients to the custody of their sponsors and the care of their respective communities instead of placing our clients into unnecessary, dangerous, and deadly ICE Prisons.
Alternatively, should the government imprison our clients, having a sponsor will provide our clients with a potential lifeline to the outside world while they are detained, providing them with moral support and commissary funds until subsequent release attempts are successful.
Take Action and Become a Sponsor!
We know that sponsoring folks in asylum proceedings is a heavy lift, but we see it, too, as a radical act of compassion and solidarity.
The role of sponsors with the backing of a strong network of community support cannot be overstated-- frequently this is one of the only ways to help our clients avoid ICE prisons, or shorten the time spent in one, so that our clients can pursue their legal claims free from imprisonment.
Sponsors are responsible for welcoming folks directly into their communities by providing them free housing, financial support, emotional support, and help navigating legal and social services for a minimum of 1 year or until they are able obtain work authorization and transition to independent living.
We are currently prioritizing sponsors all over the country, but especially focused on communities in California, Colorado, and New York given their proximity to Trans Detention Pods and Trans Community Centers and resources we’ve identified there, but we encourage people from all over the US to reach out for more information!
Sign up on our online sponsorship interest form to share with us a little more about yourselves and what brings you to learn more about t sponsorship. Once your responses are reviewed, one of our trained volunteers will reach out to provide you with more detailed written information and to schedule a conversation to get to know one another and to answer any questions you have.
We remain grateful to each of you and send our sincere wishes for a safe & healthy Spring season to you and yours!!!
Sincerely,
Your friends at Santa Fe Dreamers Project
Sign up to Sponsor a Transgender Asylum Seeker!
Donate Now!
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