Laura Stalder and Cristella’s friendship began with a road trip of sorts. They had been matched through Dane Sanctuary Coalition, where Stalder volunteers as a driver to help take clients without transportation to appointments. It was January of 2023, and Cristella needed to get to immigration court in Chicago to seek legal asylum in the United States. When they got there, they were surprised to discover that the judge had cancelled the hearing earlier that morning.

The unexpected cancellation left Cristella frightened and worried. On the drive back, she opened up about her fears of what deportation could mean for her and her 5-year-old daughter Aurora.

The two left Nicaragua in 2022, fleeing from a domestic abuser, and came to Wisconsin with only Cristella’s son’s girlfriend’s aunt as their contact. While crossing the Rio Grande, Cristella terrifyingly lost grip of her daughter in the swirling waters before they were both helped ashore. She also lost five toenails.

“I would not live that again,” Cristella recalls with a shudder.

Once in Wisconsin, life spared her toenails but not much else. Cristella struggled to make ends meet for housing and food without having child care or a work permit. Aurora missed her siblings badly, especially her eldest brother whom she called “dad.” By the time Stalder and Cristella met, Cristella’s social worker had just provided them a mattress to sleep on.

With little money to survive and nothing left over for an immigration attorney, Cristella continued seeking legal asylum herself, navigating a convoluted process in a foreign language with no legal representation. The alternative was deportation to a life she couldn’t stand to return to.

Hearing Cristella’s story, Stalder felt galvanized to action. She reached out to her local congregation at Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ to raise money for an immigration lawyer. The church ended up raising over $13,000 for legal fees and more for furniture, toys and clothing for the family. With the help of an attorney, Cristella and Aurora received legal asylum in March.

For Plymouth UCC, Cristella’s story emphasized the importance of helping refugees obtain legal assistance. According to a study published in the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics in 2008 (“Improving Immigration Adjudications Through Competent Counsel”), asylum seekers are at least three times more likely to win relief when represented by legal counsel.

According to TRAC Reports, Inc.’s website, of the nearly 3,000 immigration court cases currently pending in Dane County, only about 30% of those cases have legal representation.

While Plymouth UCC celebrates the success it had in making a difference for this one small family, the congregation sees their work as far from over. They have long been involved with immigration justice at the community and state level. Through their work, the members of Plymouth hope not just to change the lives of one family, but to change attitudes towards their immigrant neighbors by sharing one story at a time.

“Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, and we are called to our immigrant neighbors,” Plymouth UCC pastor Lesie Schenk said. “People may not see them, but they’re here, and they’re part of our community.”

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