This week, we at ACJP worked with a family and their attorney to put together an almost 100 page mitigation packet to help support their loved one’s deportation proceedings and hopefully convince immigration officials to let their brother stay in the US.  Their brother and his siblings were victims of a horrific crime, one that has traumatized him and his family for years. 

One of the parts of the packet is a photo album of the family with their brother. Sifting through hundreds of photographs that their mother and sister very diligently kept, one photograph stood out.  This is a photo of the Christmas tree that they put up every year, and one of the most special ornaments is a picture of their brother with the family. He has spent nearly 9 Christmases away from them, struggling to fight his case.  They put the picture up as a loving message to him that he is with them, and hopefully soon enough –he will come home.