HRI Receives Grant Award from Texas Bar Foundation to Provide Critical Legal Services for Asylum Seekers 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

May 11, 2022                                                                                  Contact: Kali Cohn, 469-581-2751, kcohn@hrionline.org 

DALLAS – Human Rights Initiative of North Texas (HRI), a Dallas-area non-profit organization, celebrates the generosity of the Texas Bar Foundation, which recently awarded HRI $20,000 to provide critical legal services for asylum seekers seeking protection in the DFW area. 

 “HRI is incredibly grateful to the Texas Bar Foundation for their generosity.,” said Cory Sagduyu, Supervising Attorney at HRI. “The donation provided by the Texas Bar Foundation will allow HRI to continue our mission of providing free legal services to individuals fleeing persecution in their home countries and seeking safety in the United States.”

 HRI’s asylum seeking clients have fled persecution and seek to rebuild their lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. As it has for over 21 years, HRI assists individuals in complying with the requirements to obtain legal status. Although the right to asylum is codified in international and U.S. law, a torrent of policies designed to eviscerate asylum protections in the U.S. has made asylum increasingly difficult to access. During fiscal year 2021, only 37% of asylum cases were granted.

Because of the labyrinth of policies designed to eliminate asylum for people who should qualify for protection, access to a lawyer can make the critical difference between approval and denial. Despite the nationally plummeting approval rates, 100% of HRI’s asylum clients were granted legal status in fiscal year 2021. 

 The Texas Bar Foundation’s investment allows the HRI to continue to provide these critical legal services to asylum seekers at no cost to the person applying. Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $24 million in grants to law-related programs. Supported by members of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar Foundation is the nation’s largest charitably funded bar foundation.

About Human Rights Initiative of North Texas 

For the past 21 years, Human Rights Initiative of North Texas has provided legal and critical social services for immigrant survivors of human rights abuses from all over the world. For more information, visit www.hrionline.org

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