Thank you for quick action, straight-forward help
The Michigan Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (MCIRR) sends its thanks, in a letter from the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center’s director, Susan Reed. Susan writes:
When Attorney General Sessions announced the end of DACA on September 5, 2017, he gave a one month window for many with DACA to renew. Many of our members’ first thought was: how will those eligible to renew be able to raise the $495 fee in time? Enter our good friends (and perhaps also yours), University of Michigan Law School Professors Margo Schlanger and Sam Bagenstos. Margo and Sam wanted to know how to support those facing this cost and we told them about the fee bank. They made a generous gift and also shared the giving opportunity with members of the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation, Temple Beth Emeth, and others in the University of Michigan community. The outpouring of generosity was amazing, and in a few days, we had received more than $18,000 for our little loan fund. Checks are still finding their way to us. This meant that we were able to assure our advocacy community that NO ONE in Michigan needed to miss the DACA renewal deadline for lack of the fee. At the same time, some major national funds providing grants emerged. So, ultimately, we only needed to make four loans for DACA renewal because most people in need got national grants. In one case, an applicant had been rejected by a grant fund because she needed assistance to replace her DACA work permit rather than renew it and she didn’t meet their parameters, but she met ours and she was extremely grateful to have access to at least another year with DACA!
The fee bank used to be an occasional solution to an ever-present problem. In 2010, with a very small gift of $2,000 from the Grand Rapids Dominican Sisters and support from pro bono banking lawyers at the Honigman law firm (recruited by Michigan Community Resources) we launched our fee bank. Because the filing fee for a green card can be as much as $2070, that initial $2,000, plus a few other small gifts we were able to add, had only become about six loans. But, every loan was repaid by our clients on time or well in advance of the repayment schedule and the loan program had been extremely helpful to those who had been able to access the funds. (We ask borrowers to pay $10 per month until 90 days after the “work permit” arrives and $40 per month after that time.) Each time we had enough money back in the fund, we let our members know that a new loan was potentially available and the loan was snapped up. Blue Ox Credit Union, based in Battle Creek services the loans at no cost and there is no interest.
Now, you have made the fee bank loan program robust. We have already been told that two applications are on the way for clients who need filing fee loans for immigration benefits other than DACA. Because we make loans rather than grants, the transformation made by your generosity will make this resource last forever!
Thank you for your rush to generosity. You are truly repairing our world.
