Help Jason Start a New Life in the US

Jason is a 32-year-old LGBT asylum-seeker from Namibia who is now free after being detained for 3.5 years

by Tina Shull

This is what freedom looks like!

Jason  is a 32-year-old LGBT asylum-seeker from Namibia. He arrived at the  US-Mexico border on the 4th of July in 2015 and declared his intent to  seek safety from violence and discrimination in his home country. He was  sent immediately to immigration detention, where he remained for the  next 3.5 years.

We  met Jason through Friends of Orange County Detainees and Freedom for  Immigrants, and we began visiting him and corresponding with him. Jackie  visited him every week for the past 19 months.

Read a beautiful story Jason wrote and mailed to us about his childhood in  Namibia, where he describes being different and bullied for being a “zoba” (geek), with his best friend and companion by his side to support  him, his dog:

Stand by or Cry? Everybody can redeem themselves, even dogs
J. is an LGBT asylum seeker from Namibia currently detained in California

Jason  loves dogs, music, reading and writing. He has recently read Nelson  Mandela’s biography and Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United  States. He is brilliant, kind, and soft-spoken, and has remained  optimistic during his extensive time detained. However, we have seen his  optimism fade, and his physical and emotional well-being deteriorate  rapidly, especially over the past year.

FREEDOM

Our  community has since, and beautifully, rallied around Jason, with help  from the LGBT Center of OC, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration and  the Western State College of Law Immigration Clinic, pro bono. We have  found him a sponsor, Erika Worth, in Portland, where she has a room for  Jason and four dogs to share their love and to help him begin a new  life.

On December 17th, he was granted a $2,500 bond, we paid it, and he was released! Your support made his freedom today possible!

Because  he is gay, he spent much of his time in detention in segregation,  isolated in a windowless room for 22 hours a day. During his 3.5 years  in detention, he depleted all of his funds. Now that he is released, he  will continue fighting to win his asylum case from outside detention and  he will need continued community support.

Please help us support Jason in starting his new life in the US.

Click here to support Help Jason Start A New Life in the US organized by Tina Shull
This is what freedom looks like! Jason is a 32-year-old LGBT asylum-seeker from Namibia. He arrived at the US-Mexico…

Funds we raise here will go towards paying off his bond and for basic living  expenses, clothing, and transportation to Portland and to immigration  court.

Thank  you for supporting Jason, making a huge impact in his life, and  bringing him the hope and joy that he has already brought us.