Extra Post for January

It is a new year, a year of great beginnings with lots of people eager with hope that this year will be one of change. Some people in particular are coming to and from Syria, a country that once just the spoken name was enough to spark a debate. Syria is located in western Asia right under Turkey, between Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea. If you type in Syria in Google right now, the first thing that will come up will be regarding their chemical weapon plants, so if you guessed that they are not in the best of situations, DING DING we have a winner- They are not. They are currently going through a civil war and ISIS is causing quite the commotion. Some argue that the civilians need aid and as Americans, it is our job to fight for the unheard voiceless due to the fact that we once were there. Others argue that it is not our problem and it is not our fight to be involved in. Whichever path you chose to take belief in, it is important to know that there are good people in Syria with families in America and vise versa. People see headlines such as the one released labeled: "Killed for 'being gay': ISIS savages blindfolded man and threw him off tower block - then stoned him to death when he SURVIVED the fall." Then people assume, oh good golly that is terrible there are terrible people over there doing terrible things, we must be afraid of these Syrians! Hasty generalizations are the fundamental cause of the lack of empathy for foreigners. Working in the immigration office, I have seen people in the waiting room stare their fellow human counterpart down, simply because they are wearing a headscarf or not showing any skin. Cultural respect is something that must be implemented in the brains of our own selves before we can go around trying to invoke it upon others.

On January 5th, 2015 DHS (Department of Homeland Security) released a press report stating that there will now be an 18 month extension of temporary protected status for Syria which will now be in effect until September 30th, 2016. What this means is that eligible citizens of Syria are allowed to register for temporary protected status. There is a certain time period you have to register in (January 5th, 2015 through March 6th, 2015) This is big news for a lot of our clients that we have helped because it means that they get to stay in the United States longer.