Today we want to share the powerful story of a courageous woman whose fight for justice moved us, our community partner Mano a Mano Family Resource Center, and most importantly an Immigration Judge who acted beyond "other judges."
Ms. Diaz came to Mano a Mano Family Resource Center (“Mano”) in Round Lake after having been turned away from other immigration-based legal aid organizations. She suffered brutal domestic violence at the hands of her ex-husband who continued stalking, abusing, and raping her even after she had divorced him in Honduras. He would drag her through the streets and shout names at her, but no one who witnessed the abuse would do anything.
The current administration has significantly weakened the law supporting domestic-violence-based asylum claims. Beyond was initially hesitant to take the case because of capacity and Ms. Diaz's was a case on the family unit docket, which meant that the final hearing would take place quickly--at a time when we were overextended with deportation cases. Ms. Diaz's case was also more challenging logistically because she was staying at a women's shelter in Lake County with her 10 year old daughter, which limited our attorneys' access to meeting with her.
Luckily, the shelter had connections to Mano; so it was a sympathetic case that Mano wanted Beyond attorneys to take on: so we did, because our community partners call the shots! Even if the legal argument wasn't strong, Mano decided we had to at least give Ms. Diaz a chance to tell her story and fight for her right to a full and fair hearing in immigration court.
Importantly, Mano continued to provide support with translation, logistics, and meeting space. Mano worked with Ms. Diaz to ensure that she and her daughter were safe and that she could gather all the available supporting evidence for her asylum application; they even supported to ensure she could get to appointments and court hearings. With Mano and Beyond staff working together, the case was fully briefed, prepared, and ready for court.
After Ms. Diaz courageously and powerfully shared to the court some of the most traumatic and painful memories of her life, the Immigration Judge said that, while not all judges would, she would grant Ms. Diaz asylum. Even the government attorney was moved and waived appeal, despite recent decisions by the Attorney General undermining asylum for victims of domestic violence. Against the odds, Ms. Diaz had won her case. Still physically shaking after reliving her trauma, Ms. Diaz told Equal Justice Works Fellow and staff attorney Ali Heinen that she was in shock. She took a moment, then asked if she could address the judge. After thanking the judge, Ms. Diaz told the courtroom "This is the first time in my life I have seen justice."