Finding Shelter: Liza M

For asylum seekers arriving in Los Angeles, it is a daunting challenge to find a safe and affordable place to live. 

In order to avoid the very real possibility of new arrivals finding themselves sleeping on the streets, CLUE coordinates a network of faith-based partners (CLUE Welcome Network) willing to welcome and provide temporary shelter to asylum seekers, whether for a few days or months, supported by our recently-added Faith-Based Immigration Organizer position. 

In this series we highlight stories of resilience and dignity, as people seek asylum in the US, as well as the faith leaders and congregations who support them in regaining their balance after the journey to LA.

From Family Life in Afghanistan…

Liza M. knew what it meant for her and her family when the Taliban captured the country as the American and Allied troops hastily retreated in August 2021. 

Liza’s mother raised her and her five siblings alone after the Taliban killed her father in 2000.  During the years of western presence, her mother emphasized the importance of education for her daughters, as well as her sons. 

Liza and one sister became doctors; another sister became a lawyer, one brother became an engineer and the 2 youngest were still in college when they had to flee.  She had a bright future in Afghanistan until 2021.

Initially, after the Taliban takeover, Liza continued her work as a doctor, working for CARE International, a human rights NGO, treating women in remote villages with no local medical care.  She had a driver for these trips, but one day, she was stopped as she headed home and questioned as to why her father or brother was not with her as a chaperone. 

They arrested her, keeping her in jail for a week until her brother was able to sign for her release.

Her care for the village women came to a halt, her professional horizons narrowed, and she and her family knew that they must get out soon.

To a Long Solo Journey to Safe Harbor

When the Iranian embassy reopened in Kabul at the end of 2021, her family all applied for visas, receiving them in April 2022.  However, remaining in Iran was not a long-term option, with similar restrictions there, and Liza was determined to practice medicine again. 

She applied for a humanitarian visa to Brazil.  When it was approved in November 2023, she discovered that only she, and not her family, were approved, although her application named them all.  It seemed that because they were all legal adults, they could not be considered part of her household.

Even worse, new applications were no longer being accepted. She left for Sao Paulo, but to this day her mother and siblings remain in Iran.

When Liza arrived in Sao Paolo, she had nowhere to go and for two weeks slept on a mattress at the airport with minimal food and water.  She was told that the P2 visa she received in Afghanistan to enter the United States might take years to process.

Given the long wait and uncertainty, she decided to go with others on the trek northward, by bus, plane, and on foot, to reach and then cross the US border and seek asylum. 

She crossed through 10 countries and walked for three nights through the Panama jungle. Like many refugees, she learned first-hand of the graft and abuse of Mexican police and gangs. 

She had lost almost everything by the time she reached the border of California, injuring her hand as she was pushed by the human coyotes, in tears, to scale a wall into the country.

Liza’s “welcome to America” was a four-month stay at Otay Mesa Detention Center near the Mexico border, a place that immigrant activists have described as cruel and inhumane and have demanded its closure. 

Immigrant rights workers learned of her situation and legal support was extended by Casa Cornelia Law Center. 

When ICE was refusing to let her leave Otay, CLUE was contacted and enlisted help from IMMDef.  

Lore Hilburg and her husband Reggie, who had taken in the A. family from Afghanistan to live in their back yard ADU, offered a room in their house for Liza upon release.

However, as terms were being finalized for her release, ICE suddenly – and without explanation – moved her to a facility in Georgia. This prompted urgent court filings and a judge in California held two remote video trials and ordered her to be released immediately.

ICE’s last move as it acted on this court order was to drop her at the Atlanta airport, late at night after most flights had gone, despite the promise by the prison to get her to the airport on time for the last flight.

She was able to contact Lore and Reggie when a kind person loaned her their phone.  Lore bought her the last seat on the early morning flight – first class – to spare her the indignity of staying any longer at the airport.  As Lore and Reggie welcomed her at LAX, her journey to reach a safe harbor was finally over.

A CLUE Welcome Network for Asylum Seekers like Liza

Liza arrived in LA with the trauma of fleeing her home, followed by the trauma of the journey and of the detention that followed.  Lore provided her with a safe home, clothes, a laptop and phone – the first tools to begin to heal and start over. 

But healing and family reunification are a long process. And the fate of her mother and siblings weighs upon her heavily. 

With a work permit in process but not yet in hand, Liza is hoping to find work as a medical assistant as she pursues the multi-year path toward becoming a licensed doctor once again.  

For now, with Lore and Reggie’s support and help from the network of organizations like CLUE, CHIRLA, Casa Cornelia and individuals taking action like Lore, she can experience the humane side of this country.

The CLUE Welcome Network will build and grow even as new challenges are anticipated from the incoming president and his anti-immigrant rhetoric.  

We are buying gift cards to give to new arrivals and could use your help. If you would like to support our efforts, please either:

• Send a check: Make payable to Pastor Frank Wulf, Echo Park UMC and send to:
  Echo Park UMC, 1226 Alvarado St., Los Angeles, CA 90026
  OR
• Purchase gift cards (to Target, Home Depot or Food for Less) and send directly to CLUE at:
  464 Lucas Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90017.

CLUE encounters asylum seekers needing shelter every day.  If you would like to provide temporary shelter, either at your own home or at a church, synagogue, mosque or other facility, please contact [email protected], or [email protected].