After two decades, Karla still recalls traveling through the desert with her brother and aunt in 1998 on their way from El Salvador, reliant on a “coyote” to get the three of them where they needed to go. Her mother was already in Philadelphia, having moved to the United States a few months earlier in search of a better life for her children.
Three years after the family’s arrival, the U.S. government made Salvadoran immigrants eligible for what’s called Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, through its program to help people from countries involved in armed conflict or environmental disasters. As a result, Karla was able to receive a sponsorship and pursue her nursing-school dreams, according to an account of Karla’s arrival in the U.S. and her life here provided by the DC-based nonprofit CARECEN, also known as the Central American Resource Center.
Today, as lead nurse for a large home care facility in Philadelphia, Karla tries to be a role model for young Latinas and help them foster a sense of empowerment. When she searched recently for legal assistance given the uncertain future of the TPS program, she found few options serving Philadelphia’s Salvadoran community but heard from relatives in the Washington area about CARECEN.
Soon she began traveling back and forth between the two cities to work with the group’s legal department. “She feels comfortable with our staff, and we give her hope things will work out,” the group wrote.
In addition to providing direct services in immigration, housing and citizenship, CARECEN also works on empowerment, civil rights advocacy and civic training for Latinos, according to its website. The group’s advocacy work spans local, national and international spaces and includes working with DC Council members on public policies intended to help immigrant families integrate into their new communities.
In the spring, CARECEN co-sponsored the #SanctuaryDC candidates forum, which focused on local issues of particular interest to the immigrant community such as language access, labor injustice and housing displacement. This week, the group is co-hosting a community meeting with Attorney General Karl Racine to discuss recent immigration actions as well as his office’s efforts to crack down on wage theft and preserve affordable housing.
Operating from a converted row house in Columbia Heights, CARECEN has decades of experience working with DC’s Latino community. It was established in 1981 and incorporated a year later as the Central American Refugee Center, working specifically with those fleeing violence — still a major part of its scope.
Currently, much of the work involves the status of TPS, with Karla and many other clients hoping for continuation of the TPS protections. Without the temporary visa, “she will be separated from her family and loved ones, [and] her future and dreams will slowly but surely dwindle away,” the group wrote in its description of Karla as a beneficiary of the program.
Recent judicial decisions appear to offer some protection. Judge Edward M. Chen of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued an Oct. 3 order temporarily blocking the Department of Homeland Security from ending TPS for immigrants from El Salvador, Sudan, Haiti and Nicaragua. Another federal court case involves immigrants from Honduras.
The TPS program affects over 260,000 Salvadoran immigrants in the U.S. — about 32,000 of whom live in the Washington area, according to a recent Washingtonian article. The judge said ending the program would cause “irreparable harm and great hardship” to immigrants who are from the affected countries.
Each year CARECEN serves more than 5,000 immigrants in the Washington area through its core programs. The group offers low- and no-cost immigration legal services as well as citizenship and civic participation services, including classes to prepare those going through the U.S. naturalization exam. Staff members also provide housing counseling and help immigrants and their families with the process of transitioning to an integrated life in their new home.
“CARECEN advocates nationally on immigration issues, including the legal permanent residency for TPS, assistance for families at the border, and foreign policies toward Central America,” said Ava Roseberry, resource development associate for CARECEN. Local efforts related to TPS focus on how the DC government can help those who hold visas under the program.
Unlike area counterparts with a broader mission and clientele, CARECEN focuses its efforts just on the needs of the region’s sizable Central American community.
“Central Americans face unique challenges and require distinct legal remedies different from other immigrant populations,” said Roseberry. “Unlike other direct service providers, CARECEN is intentional in its efforts to merge direct services with targeted advocacy efforts.”
CARECEN closely monitors conditions in Central America in order to anticipate the volume of future clients and where they’re likely to come from. For example, the organization predicts a high migration from Venezuela and Nicaragua given their current political climates.
Over the summer, CARECEN recruited local restaurants to participate in an Aug. 29 fundraiser, with their donations based on sales on a particular day. A substantial proportion of restaurant owners, managers and workers are immigrants, so participants were eager to support the group’s work on immigration, housing and citizenship.
Jonathan Nelms, who co-owns the Georgian restaurant Supra on 11th Street NW with wife Laura, said his family’s values carry over into how they do business. Supra donates a portion of International Women’s Day earnings to N Street Village and supports Food & Friends through its annual fundraising drive “Dining Out for Life.”
“When the opportunity for CARECEN came up, it felt like a natural fit because of the many immigrants who work at Supra and the hospitality industry overall,” Nelms said. “While CARECEN specifically supports the Latin American immigrant community, Supra is made possible by many hardworking immigrants, especially those from Georgia and Latin America.”
It is important to Nelms that he and his family support those who “help their restaurant thrive.”
“There are many immigrants who are part of our Supra family and the industry at large, and we want to do whatever we can to support those members of our community,” he said.
The same goes for Olivier Caillaibet, general manager of another participating restaurant — Toki Underground, an Asian fusion eatery on H Street NE. Now more than ever, he said, it’s essential to stand up for what’s right and support CARECEN and other organizations that carry out this kind of work.
“Like most restaurant operators in this country, the backbone of my team and my business are immigrants from Central America,” Caillaibet said. “They are the best people I know, and with so much toxic and unfounded vitriol directed toward them and others leaving their homes to come to the U.S., it’s important they have a voice and representation.”
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