My name is Whitney Kweskin, and I am the Senior Program Manager for ALIVE (Advocacy, Leadership, Immigration, and Voter Engagement). I am an immigration advocate, and I also oversee the Civic Pathways leadership program, coordinate our participation in the Coalition of Refugee Service Agencies’ advocacy efforts, and supervise our voter registration program. I started working for RRISA* as an AmeriCorps member in the Immigration department because it sounded interesting and I needed a job. I stayed for the next fourteen years because this job is not interesting – it is absolutely fascinating. Not only do I get to help people, but I learn something new every single day.
Practicing immigration law has made two things very clear: (1) immigrants and refugees are highly motivated and resourceful people, and (2) the US immigration system is complex and difficult to navigate. Filing deadlines, changing fees, language barriers, attorney costs, bad (even if well-intentioned) advice, and nuances in precedent case law can make or break a person’s chances of being granted permanent status. The majority of our time is spent demystifying the process of immigrating to the United States. It is our job to make sure that people have facts that they can use to make informed decisions about their immigration journey in a field where there is simultaneously a lack of clear information and an abundance of misinformation.
One of the most life-changing services we offer is moving people to permanent residency. I remember a client asking me if he could travel now that he had his green card. I assured him he could, with a passport from his country of origin. He looked at me for a moment and said, “Wait, I can travel outside the United States?!” He had been asking if he could travel to other states outside Georgia. He had been isolated in a rural part of the state and had not even considered the fact that he could now go anywhere that would give him a visa.
Citizenship or permanent residency helps individuals feel a sense of belonging, allowing them to settle into a home and become active community members. With citizenship, they gain opportunities to invest in their future, such as through better employment, educational support services, or military service. It also simplifies tasks like securing housing, opening a bank account, and traveling.
The other truly life-changing service we offer is that of family reunification. Our clients who enter with refugee status or are granted asylum often leave behind a spouse and children. Sometimes the family has been separated for years, and as soon as that client arrives in the US, the priority is to reunite them. We assist green card holders and US citizens in filing for their new husbands or wives, and for their newborns who they haven’t yet met. US Citizens come in to help their aging parents immigrate to the US so they can care for them here, and to help their adult children and grandchildren access more opportunities in the United States.
In the past fifteen years, the Immigration Department at New American Pathways has filed more than 25,000 cases with USCIS. We help people become lawful permanent residents, bring their families to the United States, apply for protection from persecution, become US citizens, close removal proceedings with the court, and correct or replace documents. We offer referrals to organizations that can help with other non-immigration-related questions or for immigration questions that are outside our practice area. Most people find us through word-of-mouth, and we hold in-person or virtual consultations each Tuesday. Consultations are by appointment only and can be scheduled here: https://bit.ly/4bxNosk
*Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta (RRISA) and Refugee Family Services merged in 2014 to create New American Pathways.