Asylum protections for Community Members (CMs) are vital now more than ever, especially in light of recent policy shifts and heightened anti-immigrant rhetoric from the current administration. If you missed the first two installments of our asylum series, check them out here. Learn about the historical context of asylum in the United States and gain insight into how immigration attorneys navigate these complex cases.
To highlight the asylum process from a community perspective, we interviewed Joanna Jaimes from Mano a Mano Family Resource Center, one of Beyond’s Community Partners (CPs). She described their intake process for asylum seekers:
“Anyone who is interested in receiving a consultation is added to our waiting list. After conducting a pre screening, our team schedules the Community Member for an initial consultation [with Beyond legal staff]. Our team meets on a weekly basis to review the details of each case, taking Beyond’s analysis into consideration. After coming together as a team, we send Beyond our commands and begin to divide the workload across the teams.”
Once the teams begin working on the cases, challenges can often arise. As discussed in the previous part of the series featuring immigration attorneys, the asylum process is extremely demanding – often even more so for the Community Member than for the legal and CP teams. We asked Joanna from Mano to speak to common challenges CMs face with asylum cases:
“We recognize the hard journey Community Members go through to make it to the US. Sometimes having identification, for example, is at the bottom of their [to-do list]. This is where we come in to assist and provide ideas on how they can obtain the necessary documentation for their asylum case. Our team has excelled in meeting our Community Members where they’re at. We’ve faced challenges not only with the asylum process itself, but also with other government agencies and schools who are unfamiliar with the process. [As a result,] we've had to educate others on the intricacies of the asylum process.”
With global displacement at a record high, and both authoritarianism and persecution on the rise, asylum is more important than ever as more people are fleeing danger than at any point in recent history. Ensuring access to asylum is about preserving dignity, justice, and life itself for some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. Joanna spoke to the importance of individuals seeking asylum and being granted protection:
“Successfully securing asylum for a Community Member has a deeply transformative impact that extends far beyond the individual. It offers safety, stability, and a renewed sense of dignity to someone who has often fled violence, persecution, or life-threatening circumstances. They don't have to live with the fear of returning to a country where they are no longer safe, [which] allows them to build a life here without worries. Leaving their home country is a huge sacrifice and a tough journey, but securing asylum provides them with a sense of relief and a second opportunity to build a life they deserve while feeling safe. With asylum, the individual gains legal protection, access to work and services, all of which are crucial for rebuilding a meaningful life.”
As we’ve seen through the experiences of Community Partners, the asylum process is not only legally complex—it’s deeply human. It requires compassion, coordination, and resilience from everyone involved. At its core, asylum is about restoring hope and safety to those who have endured the unimaginable. As policy landscapes shift and challenges persist, it’s essential that we continue to center the voices of asylum seekers and the communities who support them. By staying informed, advocating for just policies, and standing in solidarity, we can help ensure that every individual seeking protection has a fair chance to rebuild their life with dignity and peace.