In November 2014 a twelve-year-old girl named Diana walked into our office with her mother. Diana’s mother was holding a letter which said that Diana would have to appear in court for deportation proceedings in just two days. Diana had entered the United States in late September and reunited with her mother after six years […]
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The Story of Vanessa
THE STORY OF VANESSA A seventeen-year-old, homeless warrior By Madiha Kark Recently, Human Rights Initiative took on the case of a young seventeen-year old girl from Ivory Coast. Vanessa is currently enrolled at Richland College and hopes to one day become a petroleum engineer. Unfortunately, those dreams seem to be moving further away from her. […]
Read MoreA Nigerian Asylum Success Story!
This summer has been a great one for HRI! We have yet another recent success story of a Nigerian man who was recently granted asylum! Our client fled Nigeria after being persecuted as a member of the Biafra movement, a peaceful political party that wants cessation from the corrupt governance of President Goodluck Johnathan and control […]
Read MoreNelson Mandela & Sona* – HRI’s Newest Victory!
July 18th marks a special day for all freedom fighters – the birthday of a truly exceptional man, Mr. Nelson Mandela. Happy 95th Birthday Mr. Mandela! Mandela Day has officially been named in honor of him by the United Nations, the first time the UN had ever been dedicated a day to one person. Today […]
Read MoreHRI Wins an Asylum Case – Just in Time for World Refugee Day
Today June 20th, is World Refugee Day. Though it’s no cause for celebration, it is a time to spread awareness of the 45 million refugees there are worldwide and also welcome Dallas’ newest refugee. On Tuesday, one of our clients was granted affirmative asylum; he shared HRI that it was “the happiest day of his life.” […]
Read MoreHRI and RefugeeWriters Present: Faisal Goes West
This Sunday June 23, HRI and RefugeeWriters will present a film short: Faisal Goes West at the Angelika Theater in Dallas. View the trailer below and click here to read more about the film and click here for tickets.
Read MoreHRI Successfully Wins an LBGT Case!
HRI is proud to announce that we have successfully represented a case and helped a victim of torture gain legal status in the United States. Our client, Mikael*, represents many of the LGBT refugees and asylum seekers that flee their home countries due to persecution. Homosexuality is illegal in 76 countries but the persecution of the […]
Read MoreA Thank You from Sudan!
Today we received an awesome thank you gift from an asylum client! This client, we shall call Mohammad, is an asylee from Sudan. Mohammad was witness to a brutal attack on a small village in West Sudan in 2010, which even resulted in the loss of a few family members. When he shared his knowledge […]
Read MoreSuccess Stories
The national asylum grant rate is only 40%. Even smaller still, the Dallas Immigration court asylum grant rate is less than 30%. However, HRI gained an 80% success rate for FY2012. HRI also heard 32 VAWA cases with a 100% approval rating yet the national rate is only 79.2%. We are happy to share the […]
Read MoreClient Story: Trafficking
Anh, 38, is an interpreter from Vietnam. In the late 1990’s she was recruited by a Vietnamese company to work as a Vietnamese-Korean interpreter at a factory in American Samoa. She was promised free housing and food, and money for overtime. She was told if she broke her contract before her three-year term ended, she […]
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