Abraham Turned Himself in at the Border. I Took His Case Pro-Bono

I initially went to law school thinking I’d be a corporate attorney. But after graduating in 2018, I co-launched a tech startup that allows immigrants to access their money through their phones, rather than risk being robbed by carrying cash across borders.

I started and ran a microfinance company in Kenya after business school that helped rural smallholder farmers access credit.

But it was hard to turn away from my passion; I wanted to continue helping people around the world who did not have access to financial services, like refugees fleeing conflict.

Then, in November 2022, I started volunteering in law because I wanted to keep my credentials current and thought that knowledge of asylum law would be useful for my work.

So I signed up for a Continuing Legal Education training with the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network and quickly learned that I was desperately needed as a pro bono attorney.

I’ll admit I often wondered if I was the right person for this role. I had a full-time job, an infant daughter, and not much free time to take on extra work. I thought I was signing up for about 20 hours of work reviewing and preparing documents.

Then I met Abraham, whose name I’ve changed to protect his privacy. I was assigned his case because I had run a micro-finance business in Kenya before law school and was familiar with his culture. We bonded quickly, talking about our favorite Eritrean foods.

A few years ago, Abraham, who is 23, fled his East African homeland, after the military had detained and beat him for refusing to join the army. A Sudanese church group had raised money to help him get to Brazil, and from there he made it to the U.S.-Mexican border, where he turned himself in.

He was applying for asylum in the U.S. and was under immense pressure. He was being held in a Colorado detention center and had to rely on a translator to communicate. If he were deported, he would likely be tortured or killed in his native Eritrea. Under these circumstances, anyone might mix up important details.

Abraham was grateful to connect with me. Migrants who have legal representation have a significantly increased chance of winning asylum, compared to those who don’t, according to a statistical analysis from 2016 to 2021 by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan nonprofit data research center at Syracuse University.

Because there is no guaranteed access to counsel for people in immigration detention, the current influx of migrants at the southern border and national case backlog means the urgency for lawyers to offer their services is greater than ever.

Over the next four months, I buckled down, working nights and weekends and even taking vacation days to visit him at the Aurora Detention Center and attend his court hearings. We talked about Abraham’s family and he made jokes about me looking older towards the end of the case, and called me “Natti”.

He had an incredible memory for detail about the dates of events during his journey to the U.S. A few weeks after he was released, we met in person for some amazing home-cooked Eritrean food and we stayed in regular contact.

While it was very difficult to call and time-consuming to visit him while in detention, the Aurora Detention Center personnel were always friendly and accommodating. I was also impressed with the professionalism of the DHS attorneys. The judge was incredibly experienced and efficient with the online filing systems and remote hearing procedures.

I tracked down testimony from his family members and witnesses who could verify he’d been detained by the Eritrean Defense Force. I also found an expert witness on Eritrea and submitted U.S. State Department reports that offered context for Abraham’s experience and documented the Eritrean Defense Force’s history of genocide, rape, and destruction of neighboring villages.

In my mind, Abraham’s case had the weight of a death penalty case, and I couldn’t let him down. But I was also motivated by my own self-doubt. Even though I passed the Colorado bar exam in 2018, I’d never officially practiced law or litigated before a judge. So I worked extra hard because I was terrified that I would do something wrong and put his life at risk.

Abraham and I spent hours preparing for his final in-person hearing and reviewing every detail of his case. As I was prepared to launch into my arguments and present my evidence, the judge stopped me and said there was no need. He’d already read my briefs beforehand and made his decision: I was relieved to hear him call it a “clean legal case.”

I was in disbelief yet thrilled for Abraham. I was expecting a big legal battle and didn’t think I was going to be up for it. I remember being grateful that I spent the amount of time I did over the past few months preparing evidence and building the legal arguments.

I gave Abraham a big hug in the courtroom hallway when we learned he had won asylum and could stay in the U.S. Today, he’s living with a host family in Aurora and waiting for his work permit. In the meantime, he’s learning English and studying for his high school diploma.

I’m sharing my story because I want to encourage my colleagues to step up and take on such cases pro bono. We can really make a difference in someone’s life. I hope that anyone who is looking for a rewarding challenge or wanting to use their legal experience for a bigger purpose will consider this work.

I’m living proof that if I can practice this type of law without previous experience, any lawyer can jump in and quickly get up to speed, especially new graduates or retired attorneys who want to expand their experience and stay active in their profession.

There are several nonprofit organizations across the country that offer coaching. Even if you worry about your qualifications, the reality is that offering any help is better for clients who otherwise would have to go it alone.

Simply put, representation matters to clients. It also matters to me. I hope to take on additional cases in the future. On days when I feel disheartened by news of desperate migrants at the border, I know I have an opportunity—and a valuable skill set—to help ease someone else’s suffering.

Nat Robinson lives in Edwards, Colorado. He’s a tech entrepreneur and volunteer with the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network.

All views expressed in this article are the author’s own.

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