Between a Rock and a Hard Place

His story will break your heart.

For the sake of his privacy, you will have to take my word for it.

But I would like to share a small part of his journey and ways you can join the fight by praying for this young man.

I spoke with this friend, I will call him G, last night after returning from a long meeting with a lawyer from CAST. His case has been moved from organization to organization, since it is extremely complex. Finally, CAST got a hold of his files and is willing to help him. Unfortunately, the laws are extremely difficult to maneuver and there are very few ways for someone in his circumstance to receive asylum or citizenship. After this meeting, he seemed extremely discouraged and when I asked about it, my heart felt more entangled and connected to the issue of Immigration then ever before. G has been given 2 choices.

The first, cooperate with the Federal Government, testify against those who have taken advantage of him, and receive a visa. There is a catch to this first option though; he must publicly participate in the conviction of these people…which almost guarantees some sort of backlash. Those who took advantage of him know exactly where his family lives back in his home country and are evil enough to redeem G’s actions in the cruelest of ways. Basically, this option would risk the live’s of his family.

The second choice, voluntarily deport himself. The catch to this one is endless. By going back he will almost certainly be destined to extreme poverty, working daily just to eat. As he put’s it, “In my country, you work so you can eat that day. If you don’t work that day, you don’t eat that day.” There is no higher education easily accessible. There are no social services to help him and his family get ahead. He knows that returning would seal his fate of a life with no opportunities.

So what does he do? Does he chose to stand up for what is right, convict the monsters who held him hostage while putting his family in extreme danger? Or does he protect those he came here for in the first place and return to what he explain’s as a life of nothing?

I don’t know about you, but hearing this makes the choices I stress about seem utterly ridiculous.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place. Stuck between sacrificing his family’s well being for opportunity or sacrificing opportunity for his family.

This 18 year old will have to make a decision most of us will never have to make in a lifetime.

Will you join me by praying for G?

Pray for wisdom. Pray for protection. Pray for his family.