Page 12 - Katten 2021 Pro Bono Annual Review

Venezuelan Family Wins Asylum, Welcomes New Baby

After Seven-Year Ordeal

A team of Washington, DC-based Katten attorneys and business professionals helped win asylum for a
Venezuelan citizen and his family, who fled to the United States after being persecuted and tortured
for their political beliefs.

The petition for asylum was filed in 2014 and involved a significant effort from Katten attorneys and
staff including Intellectual Property associate Kristin Lockhart, Corporate legal executive assistant
Dolly LaFuente and billing specialist Mayra Fuentes.

Over the course of the petition, the case posed a number of obstacles,
including a potential bar to asylum raised at the 11th hour. This last-minute
claim required the team to research historical records to refute a claim that
News of the asylum win came
the client inherited his father’s purported dual citizenship from Poland as a
just in time before the client result of being present there during World War II.
and his family welcomed a new
baby girl into their family.

Those Persecuted for Political Beliefs Find Refuge in the United States

A former labor union leader, imprisoned and tortured in his Chad took on the man’s case in November 2015 and filed his
home country of Togo, was assisted over a five-year period in asylum application in December of that same year. The man’s
his successful petition for asylum in the United States. asylum interview was rescheduled several times, initially due
to a backlog of more than 158,000 cases at the Asylum Office
Chicago Government and Public Finance partner Chad Doobay and later because of changes made under the Trump adminis-
represented the West African man, who fled to the United tration to the review process for asylum applications and
States in January 2015 after facing political persecution. delays in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the
The client had been a labor union leader of customs forward- client waited for his application to be reviewed, Chad helped
ing agents.
him obtain employment authorization, so he would be able to
After attending several peaceful strikes to protest what he work. In the meantime, the client also received counseling for
and others believed were the unfair labor practices of the post-traumatic stress disorder and continued working and
Togolese government, he was kidnapped by military officers studying English, while his wife and three children remained
and held in a military detention facility for four days, where he in Togo and were unable to come to the United States.
was falsely accused of working with the Togolese govern- After five years, the client’s interview was rescheduled for
ment’s political opponents to destabilize the government. He and took place on November 4, 2020. Chad helped him
was tortured, humiliated, starved and interrogated before prepare for the interview and submitted more than 200
being released on provision. Soon after, the military issued a pages of supporting materials, including a medical affidavit
summons for him to return for further interrogations, and, documenting his physical scars, a psychological affidavit doc-
fearing for his safety, he fled to the United States and filed for umenting his post-traumatic stress diagnosis, a country’s
asylum through the National Immigrant Justice Center.
condition expert on conditions in his home country, and a
legal brief. In late 2020, the client learned that his application
for asylum was approved.

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