Border Archives - Benach Collopy

An Open Letter to my Non-Black Latinx Community

June 5, 2020

This is a special blog post by our Paralegal Diana Mateo, who has been inspired to write by the Black Lives Matter movement to speak out about anti-blackness in the Latino community. A version in...

New Rule on Asylum at Southern Border Violates Letter and Spirit of Asylum Law

November 9, 2018

The law as passed by Congress is very clear as to who may seek asylum in the United States. Immigration & Nationality Act Section 208 states: Any alien who is physically present in the United...

Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzalez and Roxsana Hernandez were killed by U.S. immigration authorities last month

June 6, 2018

On May 4, 1970, U.S. National Guardsmen shot and killed four people protesting the Vietnam War. The massacre, known as the Kent State shootings, topped a tumultuous decade that spurred a lot of violence against...

Walls, DACA and Raids: What has happened in immigration since Trump’s inauguration?

March 16, 2017

Back in November, we made some predictions about what might occur in a Trump presidency as it relates to immigration. Generally, we were very pessimistic and presumed that almost all areas of immigration would become...

Clients of the Month February 2017- Karla and Anthony Duran

February 7, 2017

During these difficult times for our country, when the Trump Administration has suspended the refugee resettlement program and attempted to paint all refugees as terrorists and security threats, Benach Collopy has continued the fight for...

Clients of the Month- October 2016: 5 Child Refugees!

October 20, 2016

[caption id="attachment_1735" align="alignright" width="324"] Liana Montecinos[/caption] This post was written by Liana Montecinos. Thirsty, hungry, at the brink of exhaustion, and with fear of violent deaths looming large back home is how many Central American...

Introducing our Fellow for Trans Asylum Issues and Celebrating Thirty Years of Whitman Walker Health Legal Services

May 22, 2016

[caption id="attachment_2697" align="aligncenter" width="458"] Naya, Celina, Liana, Ava and Cori and Amy from Whitman Walker[/caption] This is a big week at Benach Collopy as a number of important projects are coming together and we are...

Dree Collopy on Central American Refugees and Asylum Law

February 12, 2016

Writing in today's Leadership Blog from the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Dree Collopy explains the fundamentals of asylum law the critics, journalists, and politicians fail to understand: Any refusal to recognize gender-motivated violence such as...

Fight Daesh by Embracing the Refugee

November 16, 2015

At Benach Collopy, we share the outrage over the terrorist massacre in Paris. We weep for the families who lives where turned inside out by a murderous death cult. As residents of another Western capital,...

Bad Decision on Transgender Asylum Seeker Reversed by 9th Circuit

September 4, 2015

In Avendano-Hernandez v. Lynch, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled today that the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) made an error of law in denying protection under the Convention Against Torture...

Under Pressure over Family Detention, the Administration Finally Agrees to Exercise a Little Humanity

July 14, 2015

Since last summer, when the Obama Administration hastily resurrected the concept of family detention to jail refugee women and children seeking asylum, thousands of women and children have languished in inhumane conditions, have been refused...

House Democrats (and Dree!) Call on Obama to End Family Detention

May 22, 2015

Yesterday, several prominent House Democrats called on the administration to end family detention. Organized by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California, the Democrats decried the Obama administration's detention of women and children fleeing violence in Central...

Injunction Against the Dysfunction of Family Detention

February 23, 2015

Artesia. Karnes. Dilley. Before the administration decided it would be a great idea to lock up Central American women and children fleeing from persecution, these towns were unknown. Artesia was the hometown of our government’s...

Scenes from the Immigration Bar: Never Too Cool for School

September 4, 2014

Victory! BIA finds Domestic Violence Victims May Qualify for Asylum

August 27, 2014

In a major victory for immigrants, the Board of Immigration Appeals ruled yesterday that women who are unable to leave domestic violence caused by their husbands may qualify as a particular social group for asylum...