TNJFON staff advocate for the Afghan Adjustment Act and continue supporting asylum-seekers in Nashville
This month TNJFON staff members Hashmatullah Azizi, Hannah Smalley, and Meagan Lombardi joined other advocates in meetings with aides to Senator Bill Hagerty and Senator Marsha Blackburn to push for passage of the Afghan Adjustment Act. Introduced on August 9, 2022, the legislation would provide a path to permanent legal residency to Afghans admitted under humanitarian parole. This would keep many Afghans from dealing with the arduous, often traumatizing, process of applying for asylum.
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Her Story Persisted
Just hours before Oye Vecino LIVE: Her Story, we found out our event location was closed for a bomb threat. Could we move the event with most of our supplies locked away, without the full team, and start in a couple of hours? We had to make a decision. Cancel or try to find a new location?
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Join us in welcoming our fall interns!
We are excited to introduce our 2022 fall interns Meagan Lombardi, Patrick Flaherty, and Vanessa Demaral.
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Meet Oye Vecino LIVE performer Angie K
Country singer Angie K will be joining us as a performer on Thursday, September 22 for Oye Vecino LIVE: Her Story. Click here to read her bio, and register for Oye Vecino LIVE to jam out with Angie K!
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Meet Oye Vecino LIVE panelist Irma Paz-Bernstein
Nashville entrepreneur Irma Paz-Bernstein will be joining us as a panelist on Thursday, September 22 for Oye Vecino LIVE: Her Story. Click here for a quick Q&A, and register for Oye Vecino LIVE to hear more of Irma’s story!
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One year after the Taliban takeover, Nashville’s Afghan community needs our support
One year has passed since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, but tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees in the United States remain in legal limbo without a clear path to legal permanent residency. TNJFON, along with the national Justice for Our Neighbors network, calls on Congress to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act.
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Meet Oye Vecino LIVE panelist Rocio Martinez
Nashville actress Rocio Martinez will be joining us as a panelist on Thursday, September 22 for Oye Vecino LIVE: Her Story. Click here for a quick Q&A, and register for Oye Vecino LIVE to hear more of Rocio’s story!
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Join us in welcoming our new staff!
TNJFON has grown tremendously this year. We added two staff attorneys, two legal clerks, a paralegal, and an administrative assistant to support our legal team as well as an advocacy and outreach coordinator to support our education initiatives.
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Why do dignified immigration services matter?
In May of 2019, during AP exam week, we received news from the office that one of my students had been deported. No, he didn’t commit a crime. He wasn’t at the wrong place at the wrong time either. My life was shaken to the core by this incident because, in a flash of a moment, my students’ lives were shaken by the reality that their friend was no longer with us. It felt like we were mourning the death of a loved one. It was abrupt, it was humiliating, it was unfair. I remember sitting on the steps of our school consoling his high school sweetheart. I consoled her in silence because nothing I said was going to be enough.
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