Juan’s Story
Last year, “Juan,” an indigenous Guatemalan teenager living in Great Barrington, attended one of New England JFON’s virtual legal clinics. In Guatemala, Juan, his parents, and his six siblings lived…
Over the past 11 years, we have served hundreds of clients, helping them obtain safety, security, self-sufficiency, and justice. Our clients have faced unspeakable hardship and exhibited extraordinary bravery and resourcefulness to reach our doors, and we are proud to be able to help them take this momentous next step in their journey.
We serve asylum seekers, unaccompanied minors, and victims of violence, such as gang violence, human trafficking, and domestic violence. In 2022, approximately 40% of our full-representation clients were asylum seekers, and approximately 50% were unaccompanied minors. We served 159 new clients – 127 consultation clients and 32 full-representation clients. We closed 18 full -representation cases and continued work on 115 open cases.
Our 2022 clients came to us predominantly from the Americas (North America: 33%; Central America: 28%; South America: 25%). 17% of these clients are originally from Guatemala, 17% from Haiti, and 12% from Brazil. In total, our 2022 new clients represented 30 countries. Our 2022 clients live in 33 cities and towns across Massachusetts, with Worcester, Lynn, Springfield, and Lawrence making up just over half of the total.
As the immigration state of emergency continues in Massachusetts, demand for immigrant services, including immigrant legal services, has only increased, and we are here to help as many people and families as possible.
