Urgent Legal Updates



Boston Asylum Office: Short Notice List Interviews

The Boston Asylum Office is slowly beginning to work its way through its backlog by scheduling interviews for applicants on the short notice list. If your client has been on the short notice since 2017 or earlier, please contact your PAIR mentor!

Moving and Advancing of Massachusetts and Connecticut Immigration Court Hearings

On April 8, 2024 the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) will be opening a new immigration court in Chelmsford, Massachusetts (the “Lowell Immigration Court”). In the coming weeks and months, EOIR will be pulling cases of individuals who reside in certain zip codes from the Boston and Hartford Immigration Court dockets and transferring them to Lowell.

Because the Lowell court will have a complete slate of new cases, cases on the Lowell docket will likely proceed much more quickly than cases have in Boston and Hartford. When cases are transferred, the Boston/Hartford hearing dates will be canceled, and it is very likely that the rescheduled date will be significantly sooner. And because cases will be removed from the Boston and Hartford dockets, it is likely that cases which remain in those courts will also be advanced when hearing slots from transferred cases open up.

If you have a case pending in the Boston or Hartford courts, we strongly recommend that you check the EOIR online portal regularly to check your client’s next hearing date.

As always, if you have questions about anything, including how these changes will affect your clients’ cases, please contact your PAIR mentor.

A note from Melanie, Pro Bono Involvement Coordinator:

Dear Friend of PAIR,

As spring is right around the corner, it is also a great time to take on a full representation asylum case. We have a number of asylum seeking clients who are in need of pro bono placement below. As always, please reach out if you may be interested and/or have any questions!

Melanie

Available Asylum Pro Bono Cases

To read the longer case abstract for each the cases below, please click here.

If you are an attorney and are interested in taking on one of the below non-detained asylum cases, please email me at mgleason@pairproject.org.

Asylum (Immigration Court): WM (Brazil) is a 33-year-old Brazilian man who has been psychologically and physically abused, as well as endured sexual violence, due to his sexual orientation.

Asylum (Immigration Court): SLB (Republic of Congo) is a 21-year-old man who fled the Republic of Congo due to the danger he faced on account of his father’s political involvement.

Asylum (Immigration Court): GEC (Honduras) is a a 32-year-old woman who fears returning to Honduras with her four children due to domestic violence and death threats they have endured.

Asylum (Asylum Office): PO (Nigeria) is a 36-year-old man who fled Nigeria due to threats and violence he endured because of his sexual orientation.

Asylum (Asylum Office): FK (Tanzania) is a 36-year-old woman who fears returning to Zanzibar, Tanzania because of experiencing threats and violence as a Muslim lesbian woman.

Asylum (Immigration Court): CCM (El Salvador) is a 30-year-old woman who fled El Salvador to escape her abusive partner.

Asylum (Immigration Court): SK (Turkey) is a 33-year-old Turkish woman who fled due to domestic violence, inclusive of her political and religious views.

Asylum (Immigration Court): LRF (Ecuador) is a 40-year-old Ecuadorian woman who has suffered various forms of abuse due to being an indigenous/ Kichwa and disabled woman.

Asylum (Immigration Court): WM (Haiti) is a 29-year-old man who fled Haiti due to his political activism.

Asylum (Immigration Court): JM (Dominican Republic) is a 44-year-old Dominican woman who fled due to domestic violence.