This summer I moved to El Paso to work for DMRS with the Removal Defense Unit. It’s been a privilege to work with such dedicated and hardworking people to make a difference in many immigrants’ lives.

Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services, Inc. (DMRS) is the largest provider of free and low cost immigration legal services in West Texas and New Mexico. We provide a comprehensive range of immigration legal services including representation in family-based immigration matters, Citizenship/Naturalization matters, matters related to benefits for survivors of domestic violence and other crimes, removal proceedings before the Immigration Courts, and services for adults and unaccompanied immigrant children detained in the local immigration detention centers and shelters. DMRS has been serving the immigrant community since 1986.

To asylum seekers like Benis, YOU BELONG Benis Ntang is from Cameroon, a country she loves dearly, but had to flee in order to stay alive. Benis was recently granted asylum with the help of her DMRS attorney Marysol Castro. Since arriving in the U.S., Benis met her fiancé, got engaged, and had a baby. She enrolle din school and is on the path to become a nurse. All of this happened in El Paso while Benis was waiting for her asylum case to be decided. Benis said she was prepared to leave her family behind if her asylum claim was denied and she was forced to return to Cameroon.

“Asylum granted.” Those were the words by an immigration judge that dropped Benis to her knees in the middle of the courtroom. Her entire life literally depended on that decision.

Benis can now remain in the U.S., get married, raise her baby, and finish her education. Most importantly, she is now SAFE.

These are the possibilities when we welcome people with dignity and show them #youbelong.