Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network

AsylumGAINs Asylum program serves individuals fleeing persecution abroad that is motivated by race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in particular social groups. We work with clients from around the world to achieve safety through our complex immigration system. In 2023, we served womens rights activists from Afghanistan, teachers targeted during political conflict in Cameroon, LGBTQ+ activists from countries where homosexuality is criminalized like Ethiopia and Russia, political prisoners from Nicaragua, and women fearing female genital mutilation (FGM) from Senegal. We support the full scope of asylum clients immigration legal needs during years-long cases, including asylum applications, work authorization, international travel documents, family reunification, and permanent residence. This comprehensive support provides an environment where clients can tell their own stories and achieve their dreams when it comes to immigration status and beyond. GAIN is proud to see our successful asylum clients step into their power and create their own communities of care, with many supporting our work and partnering with us as leaders of their own community organizations. In 2023, GAINs Asylum team served clients in 846 legal matters, providing immigration support and expertise to clients and organizations across the state.

Project AllySince 2021, Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network (GAIN) has helped lead the way in responding to the crisis in Afghanistan through Project Ally, an emergency response project serving over 1,000 Afghan nationals. As 2022 began, our team finalized the humanitarian parole filings we prepared for hundreds of Afghans after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. As the crisis evolved, we found that we needed to build a new mechanism to serve our community. In 2022, GAIN partnered with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) Atlanta to host monthly legal clinics for Afghan nationals who were brought to Georgia through Operation Allies Welcomes humanitarian parole initiative. These clinics provided pro se assistance with asylum applications to Afghans on one Saturday each month, helping them begin their asylum process by mapping out their declaration an important first step in the process. With our Asylum teams expert guidance, GAIN created a replicable model which includes extensive training and project management resources for our partners, and ensures that our clinics are informed by the best practices in immigration law practice. In 2022, Project Ally benefited 484 individuals through legal service and support. In 2023, Project Ally held several additional clinics devoted to helping Afghan allies with important protection such as TPS and re-parole, and continued to build trust within this community by speaking at two Afghan womens groups about important topics such as family reunification. We also expanded Project Allys successful clinic model to serve broader communities in Georgia. With over 40 Afghans winning asylum through direct representation by GAIN alone in 2023 (and dozens more who received pro se help at clinics), many of those served by Project Ally have achieved safe, stable immigration status and are actively rebuilding their lives here in Georgia. This project has set the stage for GAIN to leverage two decades of legal expertise to support acute immigration legal needs of immigrant communities in crisis.

Victims of ViolenceThe Victims of Violence program supports the needs of immigrant survivors who have been victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and other crimes in the U.S. GAIN fulfills an immense need for free legal services for immigrant victims, a high-need population that requires culturally sensitive services and a sophisticated legal response to complex cases. When GAIN secures T visas for survivors of labor trafficking, we help clients who have faced exploitation to obtain unrestricted work permits allowing them agency in work and in life. Through U visa applications for survivors of crime, we empower clients to speak out against abusers, with the assurance that they are safe from deportation. And through other forms of relief for survivors of intimate partner violence, such as Violence Against Women Act filings, GAIN can remove a survivors reliance on their abuser for immigration status. In 2023, GAINs Victims of Violence program worked on 260 legal matters, providing legal services for hundreds of crime survivors all while providing expert technical assistance to our pro bono volunteers.