Civil legal aid helps young immigrant escape violence and achieve her dreams

When Simi was five years old, her parents were killed during a terrorist raid in her Nigerian hometown. Her home life remained unstable for many years. When she was 16, she earned a scholarship to a summer program in New England, and while she was there, her family was displaced for the third time because of religious-based violence. Simi then made the hardest decision of her life: she chose to stay in the United States and seek asylum here on her own. She connected with the Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts and an attorney, Jay McManus, took her case. With Jay’s help, Simi was placed in a foster home, enrolled in school, and secured a green card in 2019. She went on to graduate from Weslyan University and now works in the financial services industry.