Jose was a young teenager when his family fled the El Salvadoran civil wars and came to the U.S.A. for safety. He was entered on his father’s asylum petition. Six years later, no action had been taken on his father’s asylum application, and Jose turned twenty-one. In immigration terms, he “aged-out.” So he came to Justice For Our Neighbors for help in filing his own asylum application. We filed the application, received a “receipt letter” from immigration and after paying the fees every year, he was receiving his work permits. In 2007, Jose received a letter saying his work permit was denied because he hadn’t filed his own asylum petition. The Iowa JFON attorney sent proof that we had filed the application and that it had been received, so he again began receiving his work permit. Now in 2009, eight years after filing his application, Jose has received another letter saying that he never filed his own asylum application. Our attorney is working on it for him again, and we are wondering why he has never been called for an interview from his application which was filed and received by immigration so many years ago.
