The Trump Administration's new "Public Charge" policy will limit the ability of legally-admitted, tax-paying immigrants to become permanent residents and citizens of the U.S. The International Institute of New England condemns this xenophobic policy as un-American and economically indefensible. Legal immigrants with documented statuses sometimes struggle to make a living when they first arrive [...]
Hailu is from Ethiopia. Earlier this year, he hired IINE's Legal Immigration Forms Service (LIFS) for help with his citizenship application. Ashley Wellbrock took on Hailu's case, prepared his application and forms, and helped him get ready for his citizenship interview. On July 11, 2019, Hailu became a U.S. citizen. When asked about his [...]
A message from IINE CEO, Jeff Thielman, on new federal guidelines released this week "A well-founded fear of persecution." Since 1951, that phrase has been the global standard for asylum-seekers desperate for a safe future. “Fear of persecution” is a lawyerly way of generalizing warfare, gang violence, discrimination, genocide, corruption, racism, and religious and [...]
A graduate of Boston College (BA) and UMass Boston (MA), Sofie Suter works in IINE’s Boston office as the Program Officer for the Central American Unaccompanied Children's Program. Her job and department are unique because her clients are children, with whom she works for short, intensive period of time while they are first reunifying [...]
Michou was a single mother of two and pregnant with her third child in 2010 when a powerful earthquake struck her homeland of Haiti. Left homeless by the devastation, Michou and her children emigrated to the U.S. During their first few years here, Michou acted as a full-time caretaker for her sons, both of [...]
In the run up to World Refugee Day, IINE CEO Jeff Thielman was invited to appear on “The Exchange,” with two former refugees and radio host Laura Knoy to talk about the current state of refugee resettlement in New Hampshire. The Exchange is New Hampshire's only locally produced statewide call-in talk show. https://www.nhpr.org/post/exploring-nhs-refugee-program-manchester#stream/0 [...]
In May, 20 volunteers from Cambridge-based Biotech firm Intellia Therapeutics visited IINE offices to tackle an office-wide spring cleaning and provide behind-the-scenes support to refugees, immigrants, and unaccompanied immigrant minors. Intellia’s team started with lunch and an info-session to learn about refugee affairs and the needs of local organizations. After pizza and discussion, [...]
For many people who need help with their immigration paperwork and applications, attorney fees are often the most expensive part of the process. In order to provide affordable and reliable legal help, the International Institute recently relaunched a Legal Immigration Forms Service (LIFS), available to all, that provides high quality legal assistance at a [...]
Sophy Theam during her speech When IINE celebrated its historic 100-year anniversary in Lowell earlier this year, one of the event’s top sponsors, Enterprise Bank, decided that a donation alone wasn’t enough. The series of events that led to Enterprise Bank becoming more than a fiscal sponsor of the celebration began [...]
I am normally a good sleeper, but last week’s New York Times article chronicling the horrific saga of an immigrant child ripped from his parents at the border kept me awake in frustrated, frightened wonder. I wonder how the U.S. government can ever possibly justify an immigration “process” that would keep a 4-month old [...]
