Monthly donations help us take on urgent cases, like Mikula’s*.

Immigrant families are living in fear over ICE’s increasingly aggressive actions and disregard for the rule of law. Immigration policies are changing daily and becoming even more restrictive. Monthly donors help local immigrant families get the life-saving legal aid they need now. 

Your monthly gifts can help local immigrants like our client, Mikula*, who was detained for 52 days.

Mikula and his family had no choice but to flee their home.

They are members of a Russian ethnic minority group that regularly faces persecution. In Russia, Mikula was an outspoken critic against the war in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin. If he stayed, it would only be a matter of time before he was imprisoned or worse.

The family eventually settled in Philadelphia and with HIAS PA’s help, applied for asylum. Two years later, with a pending asylum application, Mikula was detained during a routine ICE check-in for no apparent reason. Recent immigration policy changes meant that he could be held indefinitely. Mikula’s wife didn’t know when she would see her husband again and was forced to care for their young daughter and infant son alone.

But the family was never truly alone. HIAS PA’s monthly supporters, the Voices of Welcome, were there with them throughout the 52 excruciating days Mikula was in detention.

With their consistent support, our legal team challenged Mikula’s detention and won his release. Today, Mikula is safe and reunited with his family.

Other local immigrants will be detained throughout 2026, and they will need the same reliable support that protected Mikula.

*Name has been changed to protect the privacy and safety of our client