Why we started a legal defense fund
Selky Azaah's road to freedom inspires the creation of CIJF
In 2019, my friends and I started visiting Selky Azaah – a pastor from war-torn Cameroon – in the Aurora Contract Detention Facility near Denver. When we realized that he risked being deported if he couldn’t obtain legal assistance, we raised money to hire an attorney on Selky’s behalf.
Selky won asylum in 2019 and inspired us to start a legal defense fund for detained immigrants. He is now a valued member of our team, as is Mariama FoFana, who produced this video to help tell his story.
Donor update
"AAC" from Sierra Leone wins asylum
Over 200 people and organizations have donated to Colorado Immigrant Justice Fund and we provided this update to our donors last month. Key points include:
We have funded the asylum cases for 19 detained immigrants.
We have sponsored the legal consults of over 100 immigrants detained in rural Louisiana, many of whom have since been released from detention.
We funded the humanitarian parole applications for 2 Afghans who are hiding in their home country
If you are not a CIJF donor, would you like to join us?
From the beginning, our vision has been that if a lot of folks can give just a little ($5, $10, $25 or more per month), we can fund legal services for a growing number of immigrants in detention.
Today, 124 donors are giving a total of $4,850/month. If we can increase our monthly donations to $6,000, we can fund two asylum cases a month.
If you would like to contribute to the cause, you can do so here.
With hope and gratitude,
Greg Mortimer on behalf of the Colorado Immigrant Justice Fund team
