by Kathy Para
Chair, JBA Pro Bono Committee
Pro Bono Spotlight - Bringing you news of pro bono opportunities and accomplishments.
Helping people to hurdle the legal obstacles to becoming U.S. citizens is nothing new for immigration attorney Vanessa Zamora Newtson, who, herself, is a naturalized citizen. But the pro bono case she recently took on through Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s Immigration Night provided a form of payment she never expected: A dance.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Newtson said. “This client was so thankful that she had finally become a citizen that she just stood right up — right there in the interviewer’s office — and she broke out in dance. It was one of those moments you will just never forget. We were so very happy for her, but we did eventually have to ask her to finish the dancing outside.”
The music for this elderly Liberian woman’s celebration dance began several months earlier, when Newtson, the Jacksonville Bar Association’s Immigration Section Chair, attended JALA’s Immigration Intake Night. The Immigration Intake Night takes place at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid on the first Tuesday of each month. The Florida Coastal School of Law’s Immigration Rights Clinic led by Professor Ericka Curran is a key force in setting up the Immigration Intake Night. The goal of the Intake Night is to interview immigrant applicants, evaluate legal issues, and ultimately place applicants with volunteer attorneys.
Says Curran, “the immigrant population in Jacksonville is growing steadily. These people are very grateful to be here and are productive members of our community. Because they are new to our culture, they are also very vulnerable. An attorney can assist them in gaining the status and stability they need.”
Newtson attended the event expecting to help someone in need of her services, but she never expected to meet such a colorful client.
“I chose to take that particular pro bono case because the client was just so very sweet, and she really needed our help,” Newtson said. “She was an elderly lady from Liberia, and the biggest obstacle for her was that she didn’t speak English.”
Not only didn’t she speak English, but she didn’t have writing capabilities in any language.
“Her native language is a language called Kru,” the attorney explained. “This is only a verbal language. There is no written equivalent.”
Though she was uneducated and lacked any written language skills, the woman did have friends who were willing to help her. One of them speaks Kru and is a social worker and church member that interpreted for the client. And with that connection, Newtson went to work.
“This woman was no longer working and was in dire need of help,” she said. “She had applied for her naturalization before but could not pass the English and U.S. history and government tests that are required to become a citizen.”
Turns out, there was a way. It just took one attorney to find it.
“Once I took the case, we re-filed the Application for Naturalization and filed the Medical Certification for Disability Exception,” said Newtson. “That exception includes a waiver to the English and Civics requirement.”
So after coming to the United States under asylum and being a legal resident for more than five years, this elderly Liberian lady will become a U.S. citizen — one with great rhythm.
“This has been a great experience for me,” Newtson said. “It’s such a wonderful miracle that a lady growing up in Liberia ends up in the United States, so far from her home, and in her later years, and she becomes an official U.S. citizen. Now she’ll be able to get all the services that she needs, and her life will improve tremendously.
“JALA has a Naturalization CLE DVD that describes the naturalization process. I took the CLE course as a refresher and any attorney — with immigration experience or not — can use the resources presented in the course to assist an immigrant client. It’s a great tool and it’s free!”
Area attorneys interested in helping local immigrants or other low-income clients in need of legal services can contact JALA Pro Bono Development Coordinator Kathy Para at [email protected], or call 356-8371 ext. 363. There are two-hour, CLE courses available for check out in a variety of civil substantive areas. Attorneys accepting pro bono cases are covered by JALA professional liability insurance when serving JALA clients.