Attorneys from Lutheran Family and Community Services have shared successes with us.  They prevented the deportation proceedings against a terminally ill client who had been detained after the Special Registration, a Homeland Security program that targeted men from certain countries in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa.  No such program existed before 9/11.  LFCS has represented approximately 30 Special Registrants, some of whom were eligible for lawful permanent resident status and would otherwise have been deported.

For un- or underdocumented immigrants, the faith community is a safety net when all other aid is out of reach. A Bangladeshi woman with two small children was facing eviction and other financial problems since the detention of her Pakistani husband.  He went to the Special Registration required for many immigrants since the passage of the new BICS laws, was subsequently detained, and has been imprisoned for over a year.  He has elected to be deported rather than face more time in prison.  He will return to Pakistan voluntarily and will not be allowed to enter the US for ten years.  Because his wife is from a different ethnic background, she will not be joining him. The younger child, a boy, will go with his father, leaving the wife and daughter behind in America.  This forced separation may destroy this young family.  At the Unmet Needs Roundtable, LDRNY provided Metrocards so that the client could travel to and from her new job, as well as some legal fees for her and her husband.  She is hoping to acquire a greencard.  LDRNY was pleased to provide assistance to these families as they recover from the hardships they have faced.

An Arab-American mother of three lost her job embroidering traditional Arab dresses as a result of post-9/11 prejudices.  The shop where she worked went out of business, and she was afraid to leave her home because of threats of hate crimes and harassment.  Because her husband is disabled, she is the primary wage earner in the household.  The family faced poverty and eviction until she was able to find work as a babysitter and language teacher.  While she still earns less today than she did before September 11, she is relieved to be able to work again.

Racial bias affects even the churches in New York.  Salaam Arabic Lutheran Church in Brooklyn offered ESL classes to the community prior to 9/11.  Right after the attacks, Pastor El-Yateem posted a sign stating that classes would be cancelled for a time.  The sign was in Arabic. Someone who couldn’t read it broke the windows of the church, apparently believing that it was a mosque, or somehow affiliated with terrorists.  This backlash might help to explain why many immigrants, particularly some of the 600,000 Muslims in the New York City area, were afraid to come forward to receive disaster assistance, and thus may not have recovered as quickly from their economic situations as their naturalized counterparts.