Important update!
The last I added up between Venmo and Spotfund, we have totaled around $4,000! Here is an update, including where those funds were sent a few days ago. Just a warning, I am trying to explain some legal stuff I barely understand:
All THREE brothers have IMMIGRATION MASTER HEARINGS while in detention, coming up this week and the following week. It was really important to find attorneys before then, otherwise they would have had to represent themselves in court. This is the beginning of a long, protracted legal process.
ALSO VERY IMPORTANT is filing a HABEAS CORPUS petition for each brother. This is a legal challenge to their detention that could make it less likely for them to be transferred to a third country (a horrifying possibility), and possibly even allow for them to be released as their immigration court proceedings play out—which would be ideal. Especially given the cancer and cystic fibrosis of one of the brothers, and another brother being the sole provider for his wife and small child, doing this ASAP is also very important.
ECO is a route to get government funding to cover legal fees. Sounds great, but because of ICE's several escalations, they are completely swamped and under attack. We have been pursuing this option VIGILANTLY from the beginning, and it is still uncertain if it will pan out for either of the needs (immigration hearings or habeas corpus).
The wife was able to find an attorney to cover ONE of the brothers' IMMIGRATION hearings, as it is in A FEW DAYS. This required a contract with an immediate payment of $4,000. I have now sent that money, and she and the family are more grateful than words can say!!
That said, I hope I have made it clear how this is possibly step one of several. Just filing the habeas corpus petitions for the brothers, without govt support, would be at least $15,000. Everything together?! Probably more than I make in a year as a teacher.
I believe this is a human rights violation regardless of details, but I do want to note that the brothers were legally permitted into the country as asylum seekers, and were detained while attending their normal scheduled ICE check-ins, which they had been complying with for months and months!
TLDR: We raised around $4,000, and ALL of it has gone toward securing an attorney for ONE of the THREE brothers' upcoming immigration hearings!! HUGE, but all three have hearings, we still need legal representation for the other two, AND urgently need habeas corpus petitions to challenge their detention and potentially get them released. Just these petitions (not the three entire immigration legal proceedings) could cost at least $15,000 without govt support. One brother has cancer and cystic fibrosis, another has a wife and small child depending on him, and all three were detained while complying with ICE check-ins. So this is urgent, and unfortunately far from over!!
Soon I want to share some of the personal thank yous given by the family (translated from Farsi), because I find it personally so moving. IF you have helped in anyway, it means soooo much to me and them. I am here and will have your back if they come for you or people close to you! I promise!
