Home Safe Home
Americans Making Immigrants Safe (AMIS) often learns of immigrants needs from their attorneys, and that was again the case for a Nigerian asylum-seeker, Evi. In January 2023, AMIS received an application from Evi’s attorney, Kim Alabasi, who represented the single mother of four, through the Ohio Domestic Violence Network.
Evi was locked in a dispute with her landlord and found herself in eviction court. She was faced with an especially cruel ruling when a judge ruled in the dead of winter that she must vacate her apartment by the following weekend. Despite having steady employment—working nights at the Cleveland Clinic—all of money she had managed to save was needed to pay a security deposit and the first month’s rent on a new apartment. Within 48 hours, Evi’a application was approved and funds were in hand to help pay the moving expenses. In fact, one of our volunteers drove the check to her directly, to make sure there wouldn’t be any delay in paying the moving truck.
Without AMIS’s assistance, Evi would have been forced to (once again) leave behind all the household possessions she had secured for her family, carrying only what they could move in bags into their new home. Her furniture and other household belongings would have ended up on the curb. Thanks to her attorney’s outreach, however, Evi and her children settled into a new, safe apartment, avoiding yet another displacement trauma.
This kind of flexible and efficient support is why AMIS exists, and it’s made possible by our generous community of donors.
Through simple, targeted, rapid response efforts, AMIS, Inc. organizes support for Northeast Ohio immigrants in crisis. Our grassroots network of allies and advocates come together through local events and giving campaigns to ease the financial burden for individuals and families who have immigrated to the United States. To learn how you can support current immigrant needs click here and to learn about our past efforts and successes, click here.