On October 1, 2013, hundreds of families across the United States were impacted by the federal government shutdown. Two of my undocumented clients were affected, when they appeared for their long-awaited decision in Hartford Immigration Court only to find a note on a locked door that read: “Immigration Court Closed Due To Government Shutdown!!!!!”
For the Garza family, the expected decision was the final step in a process that began 18 months ago and would have ended 20 years of undocumented “illegal” status in the United States. For Mr. Haddad, the decision would determine whether he and his family would be forced to return to their country, where they would face the spillover from the Syrian conflict, or whether he would be allowed to continue living and working in the United States with the professional degree that he had earned from a United States university. (I’ve changed the names of my clients to protect their identity.)
