While refugee resettlement is at the core of the IRC In San Diego's services, over the years a wide variety of other programs have been added not only to support refugees as they rebuild their lives, but also to support the communities they become a part of.  In the Immigration Department in particular, a majority of clients are in fact not refugees, but other local individuals and families in need of assistance with a variety of immigration issues.

Many who visit the IRC's Immigration Department are seeking assistance to reunite with family members, or to find a way to keep their family together when some members are are undocumented. One way for some individuals to gain legal status is through the program for provisional waivers.  The program allows certain people to seek a waiver of their unlawful presence here in the United States based on humanitarian reasons. The waiver allows them to safely travel to consulates abroad so that they can go to their visa interviews, a requirement to gain legal status. It is available to undocumented people who are able to apply for permanent residence status and who have a U.S. Citizen or Lawful Permanent Spouse or Parent. It requires the family member with status be subject to “extreme hardship” were their family member to be deported, which is a very high threshold to meet under the current guidelines.

The IRC has been extremely successful in assisting family members in these cases. One such case is 30-year-old Angelica Lopez [name has been changed for privacy].

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"Angelica" discusses her case with her IRC caseworker at a recent appointment.

Angelica had barely entered adulthood when she made the journey to the U.S. and never looked back. Eventually, she met the man who would become her husband, who is a US citizen. They fell in love, got married and then welcomed three children into the world. Angelica and her husband Frank [name has been changed for privacy] work hard to support their family, which would be impossible to do were they separated. Angelica did not want to take her family and risk the violence and poverty she had fled in Mexico, nor did she wish to continue living in the shadows of being undocumented in the U.S. She thought the only other option would be to tear their family apart with one parent living on each side of the border.


Then, she heard about the IRC from her husband, whose family has been coming to the IRC for immigration services for many years.  Angelica wasn’t aware that she was eligible for the waiver before she came to the IRC. Thinking of her husband and three U.S. Citizen children, Angelica began the waiver process back in 2015. IRC staff helped her to gather the evidence needed, photos, tax returns, and other documents to prove that her family would suffer if she were deported. “My experience at the IRC was really good, my case was fast and I was always contacted about updates with my case” Angelica said about her experience at the IRC.

In February 2016 her waiver was approved, “I felt really happy and very relieved” she said. Since then, she traveled back to Ciudad Juarez to complete her visa interview and looks forward to living as a legal permanent resident, without the constant fear of her family being separated.