On Saturday, April 19, chapters of the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association (AILA) sponsored a special event called Citizenship Day 2008. JFON West Michigan and the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo’s Immigration Assistance Program (IAP) co-hosted the West Michigan site. Assisted by volunteers from JFON and IAP, volunteering AILA members advised fifty-one Lawful Permanent Residents about citizenship and prepared applications for naturalization for forty potential applicants. Twenty-two fully complete applications were mailed to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). It was a great day for many local immigrants to make the last step of a long journey and we’re proud to have been a part of it. Four volunteers from the Holland JFON helped out in the morning.

Justice for Our Neighbors and the Immigration Assistance Program are teaming up with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) of Michigan for a Naturalization clinic. The clinic will be held in Grand Rapids on Saturday, April 19, 2008. The clinic will allow applicants for naturalization to meet with volunteer Immigration Attorneys to fill out their N-400s. There is a suggested donation of $20, but it is not required. At the clinic the client's eligibility for naturalization will be evaluated by the attorney and if they are eligible, the full naturalization packet will be prepared that day and mailed by AILA via priority mail. A copy of the application will be given to the client.

JFON Holland will not have their regular clinic that day but volunteers are asked to go to Grand Rapids to assist with this Naturalization Clinic next to First United Methodist Church. If you can go, please contact Sally Garrett at 393-9641 or Mary De Ridder at church at 396-5205. P.S. If you want to know what Susan Reed, our JFON attorney, has been up to, you can go to her new blog at http://serccw.blogspot.com.

Client Success Story from Susan Reed, MI JFON Regional Attorney

An asylee came to JFON because he wanted to get work authorization. JFON informed him that because he had been granted asylum, he was entitled to work without an employment authorization document and could begin working immediately. He was thrilled because in spite of being highly educated and having a reasonable mastery of English, he had been struggling to support himself by doing small odd jobs and working in exchange for food or shelter, not knowing that he was fully entitled to be working at a “regular” job. JFON also helped him apply for his green card and he is now a lawful permanent resident.

A JFON Clinic here in Holland was held on Saturday, January 19th and the next one is Feb. 16th. This ministry could not happen without the help and dedication of our JFON volunteers.

National JFON—2007 in Review: As we begin a new year, it is part of our nature to look back and reflect on the accomplishments, challenges and triumphs of the past year. The national JFON network has much to be proud of.

We have served approximately 2,275 clients at over 200 clinics held in 19 cities (plus those held at resettlement centers in Dallas and Fort Worth) across the nation. But, more than these sheer numbers can express, we have helped to reunite families, enabled our clients to access social services, helped immigrant communities better understand their rights, responded quickly to emerging threats such as workplace raids, and advocated on the behalf of our immigrant neighbors before local, state, and national bodies as well as various Presidential hopefuls.