My guest today is Isabel Mejia and this episode is a bit different. For the first time, I gave my guest a preview of parts of the episode with the final right of refusal on what is being published.
Look, I’m not a journalist, so I don’t necessarily have to subscribe to a set of journalistic ethics if I want this show to be nothing more than entertaining. But as I mentioned on a previous episode, I feel that I owe my guests a few things.
I owe it to them to be informed and to not misrepresent or decontextualize what they are telling me. Immigrant stories are personal. The information that I’m given is often sensitive. And each situation is unique.
I felt as if Isabel needed more room to have a say in the final product because she has lived in New York City for five years as an Asylee with a pending asylum application before the US government.
I talked to Isabel about her experiences moving to the US, applying for Asylum, being apart from her husband (something that my spouse and I also went through in our immigration process), and finding community in New York.
This episode will also help raise money for the City Bar Justice Center in New York City.
The City Bar Justice Center and its Immigrant Justice Project assists asylum seekers fleeing persecution in their home countries, survivors of violent crimes and trafficking here in the United States, and individuals seeking humanitarian protection and other forms of relief. The project helps immigrants by matching them with pro bono attorneys, provides representation before USCIS and the Executive Office for Immigration Review and other free legal services.
I'll be donating $1 for every play that this episode receives between today and November 3, 2020, up to $500 plus all ad revenue from every episode of All My Friends Are Immigrants.
Please share this episode with your friends and families to help get me to my goal. If you want to support the City Bar Justice Center directly, you can donate on their website at www.citybarjusticecenter.org/donate.
