The Immigrant Law Center hosted a community screening of the film Tony and Janina's American Wedding: A Deportation Love Story at the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis on November 10, 2011. The event was a huge success. All new donations were matched by the Pohlad Family Foundation, and ILCM raised $20,000 to help fund its legal, educational and advocacy assistance to low-income immigrants in Minnesota.

The film depicts a story that is all too common in the United States: Families attempting to right their immigration status are separated by current policies, and experience the trauma of separation or loss. In this story from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, columnist Jon Tevlin tells the heartbreaking story of ILCM clients with an experience similar to the Wasilewski family's story in the documentary. Not long after this article was published, the Star Tribune ran this editorial calling for an empathetic update to federal immigration policy in order to prevent the trauma of separation and loss in immigrant families.

Early in 2012, the Obama administration called for a revision to the policy of separation to allow for quicker processing of waiver requests. This procedure would not change federal immigration policy, but would lessen the length of time required to process requests under existing policy. ILCM will keep its subscribers updated about this and other policies - sign up for our newsletters and action alerts, or follow us on Facebook to stay involved!