A FAMILY FLEES A WAR-TORN COUNTRY
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In 1982 a military coup led by General Rios Montt triggered a civil war that would rage throughout Guatemala until 1996.

This violence led to the death of over 200,000 people, primarily of indigenous descent. In addition to the war-torn climate that overwhelmed much of the country during this period, Guatemala continues to suffer the highest rate of malnutrition worldwide and the highest homicide rate in the western hemisphere. Seventy-eight percent of Guatemala’s indigenous people live in poverty and are relegated to physically demanding fieldwork, having an average of only four years of education.

Juan Pedro-Juan, one such indigenous farmer, refused to be a victim of the brutal violence plaguing his homeland. After witnessing the terrors of civil war firsthand, he sought refuge and safety in the United States with his wife, Catarina, and their newborn daughter. Mr. Pedro-Juan began laboring in the agricultural fields of Florida and Arizona. Grateful for the opportunities provided to them in the United States, the Pedro-Juan family has remained devoted members of the Catholic Church and are known for helping others in need. In 1998, Mr. Pedro-Juan and his family, which now also includes four American-born children, moved to Longmont, Colorado, where they currently reside.

The family’s next step was to apply for legal permanent residence under the Central American Relief Act (NACARA). Mr. Pedro-Juan paid substantial fees to a private attorney to assist them, but the U.S. Immigration Service denied his application and placed him in deportation proceedings. Suddenly, a family that had lived and worked in the U.S. for nearly two decades faced a troubling reality. Being torn apart would remove the father from a household that relied on him for both emotional support and financial stability. The family’s oldest daughters, just short of finishing their high school careers, would be forced to drop out of school in order to support their family alongside their working mother. Not having been afforded an education in Guatemala, it pained Mr. Pedro-Juan and his wife to see their children sacrifice their own education. Meanwhile, the youngest son, who hopes to one day serve his community as a police officer, would lose the father he so loyally calls his role model.

The Pedro-Juan family came to Catholic Charities to discuss their legal options with our experienced immigration staff. Our staff determined that Mr. Pedro-Juan could appeal the denial of his application as his deportation would result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to his family.

After the submission of substantial support documents and the presentation of compelling testimony on behalf of Mr. Pedro-Juan, the Immigration Judge reversed the decision of the Immigration Service and granted permanent resident status. After 26 years of struggling through the U.S. political asylum and the temporary protected status process, having permanent resident legal statues will allow the Pedro-Juan family to remain united and contributing members of the community.

 
VICTIM OF DOMESTIC ABUSE FINDS A BETTER LIFE
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Finding little work in Los Angeles that paid more than minimum wage, she decided to relocate to Colorado. She contacted members of the Korean Catholic community in Colorado who assisted her in finding employment and housing.

Through hard work and frugality, she managed to find solid employment to pay for a two-bedroom apartment for her family. She states, "At times I was working two or three jobs to pay for food and housing. I was so tired sometimes but looking at my peaceful, sleeping children gave me energy."

Through a mutual friend living in South Korea, Jung Hwa met a man who held citizenship in South Korea and the United States. Even though he was living in Los Angeles and she in Colorado, her friend thought that they would make a good match. He presented himself as a wealthy independent business man. As a struggling mother of two, trying to make ends meet, he seemed a good man and someone worth getting to know.

Upon their introduction, he immediately became enamored with Jung Hwa. He showered her with attention. They married in the Catholic Church in 2001 and he promised that he would help her and be good to her children.

After their marriage, Jung Hwa discovered that he not only didn’t have his own business, he was heavily in debt and expected her to meet his financial obligations.

He refused to work and began asking where she was every minute of the day. He started following her to work and stalking her to make sure she was going where she said she was going. He accused her of doing things she did not do and then began to physically abuse her.

"He would punch me in the face, kick me in the sides and shake me. The last time he abused me he hit me four times with a steal pipe in the head. I woke up in the hospital ten days later with seventeen teeth missing and my mouth wired shut," she laments.

What hurts her the most is that her children witnessed these physical attacks. He was arrested after the attack with the pipe and, thankfully, she has neither seen nor heard from him since. She acknowledges, "All I ever wanted was a man to be a good father to my children who lost their father too early. I made a bad choice. He was not that man."

Upon her release from the hospital she turned to Catholic Charities at Samaritan House for help. "I remember Father Michael announcing 7:00 a.m. Mass when I first arrived at Samaritan House so I went. I didn’t understand every word of the English said during Mass, but Mass is the same in any language. I found great comfort in going to Mass."

Although her face is permanently disfigured and she suffers long-term neurological damage, with a lot of help from Catholic Charities she is back on her feet. She applied for and was granted United States citizenship in the spring of 2009. Her son lives with her and her daughter is attending Colorado State University on a scholarship.

Cheryl Martinez-Gloria, her immigration services case worker at Catholic Charities, notes, "Jung Hwa is a victim of extraordinary domestic violence. She has received services over the years from many different Catholic Charities programs. We have represented her for over six years from legal permanent resident to citizenship."

Through donations, grants and monies that are given to Catholic Charities, we are able to help many people just like Jung Hwa — immigrants who are seeking a better life and are willing to work for it but need that all important chance for them and their children to become productive citizens.

Jung Hwa Moon, a Roman Catholic South Korean widowed mother of two, entered the United States through Los Angeles late in the summer of 2000 with the help of Americans she knew through her employment at a U.S. government agency in South Korea. Both of her children, born in Saipan, were 12 and 8 years old at the time.