Two new attorneys serve Iowa Justice For Our Neighbors clients
Trina Scott-Zuor is the new Central and Western Iowa Justice For Our Neighbors attorney located in Des Moines. Responsible for the Des Moines and Storm Lake JFON sites, she is now serving two hundred and thirty-three current JFON clients whose cases are in the immigration process. These cases include applicants for asylum and consular processing for families, people with court dates and filing deadlines. One involves a special juvenile immigrant status adjustment for a young man who has been in foster care and will soon be eighteen years old. Another is upgrading a family application for a youth whose father has recently become a citizen. Congress has extended Temporary Protective Status for Hondurans and El Salvadorans, so Trina has helped many current clients at both sites with these applications.
Trina is a United Methodist Church and Community Worker in her position as a JFON immigration attorney. A graduate from the Thurgood Marshall Law School in Houston, Trina chose to become an attorney so she could help immigrants gain a stable immigration status. Her choice was the result of her deep faith and her experiences as an English as a Second Language teacher in Georgia. Trina and her husband, Riang, a native of Sudan, are parents of a six month old daughter and a two year old son.
Gary Walters is the new Eastern Iowa Justice For Our Neighbors Attorney working in the Cedar Rapids office. He will be holding legal clinics at Lovely Lane United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids, and he will also travel to Columbus Junction United Methodist Church to hold their monthly legal clinics. Gary is a native of Missouri. His mother is a native of Mexico and his Spanish-speaking ability will be an asset to JFON. After graduating from the University of Missouri, Gary joined the Peace Corps, serving in Togo. Later he continued his education by graduating from Creighton Law School. During his time there he interned with the Omaha JFON site.
Gary has also "inherited" more than two hundred open JFON cases which continue to work their way through the immigration process. He has been accompanying clients to the immigration court in Omaha and to appointments in Des Moines with cases many types of cases, including asylum applicants from Algeria and Burkina Faso, and adjustments from refugee status to Lawful Permanent Residence. Family-bases cases often require immigrants to return to their home countries for processing, and packets of information need to be prepared for them to present to the consulates. People with Temporary Protective Status need to renew their work permits. The hours are long, but Gary says the work is rewarding.
Home 
News
News
Immigration in the news
Iowa JFON's two new attorneys
The Postville Raid
When the largest ICE immigration raid in history took place in at Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa, Rose Mraz, our full-time Iowa JFON attorney, responded with other immigration attorneys to the needs of the workers. This was a difficult time for all, and Iowa JFON felt that offering legal aid during this challenging process fit our mission to provide legal services to low-income immigrants.
|
|
|
Home News
News
