VAAP virtual clinic serves 33
Thanks to 28 fabulous legal and language access volunteers, today VAAP was able to prepare 11 principal asylum applications for the benefit of 33 people total originating from Ecuador, Honduras, Nepal, Mexico, Panama, and Nicaragua.
This means that, in just one afternoon, VAAP volunteers stretched the law license of supervising attorney Jill Martin Diaz to benefit the same number of people Jill would have needed all year to represent alone. Now, 11 families have initiated their asylum proceedings with a clear articulation of their available claims, and are on their way to interim safety from removal and access to work authorization. What's more is that our volunteers did this with measurable grace for VAAP’s resource-constrained little startup and, thus, with much less direction and support than they were owed. Our volunteers’ impact cannot be understated, and we are so grateful.
Our volunteers freed Jill up to attend several emergency basis strategy meetings with stakeholders including the State Refugee Office, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the City of Burlington, and to share learnings with Vermont Public on Vermont Edition! All while VAAP's intrepid Immigrant Justice Corps Fellows, Cam and Emma, carried on with their 10-ish open cases each for immigrant youth in removal proceedings.
Our adversaries want to derail us with fearmongering and hate, but today we stood up as a community and carried on.
Special thanks to VAAP Program Coordinator, Marnie, for coordinating the event; to UVM Professors Sarah Osten and Caroline Beer for helping us to recruit interpreter volunteers; to Fenwick and Tarrant Gillies for supporting volunteership among your associates; and to Monica Allard for encouraging her Downs Rachlin Martin colleagues to participate in FORCE.
Already we’re implementing learnings and feedback for a more seamless, enjoyable, and supported volunteer process looking ahead, so please stay tuned. Thanks again for embarking on this journey with VAAP of mobilizing Trump-era legal defense. Remember: we've been here before. We know how to fight. I love you.
