Mobile Pathways: Tech that assists people seeking asylum

A Q&A with Estuardo Cifuentes, a Mobile Pathways beneficiary

Navigating the legal immigration process can be challenging. Mobile Pathways, a Welcome.US partner, develops mobile phone technology that helps newcomers understand the law, and its Asylum Navigator offers people a realistic picture of asylum in the United States. Mobile Pathways participated in Welcome.US CEO Council member HP’s first Digital Equity Accelerator cohort, helping the company advance its goal to accelerate digital equity for 150 million people by 2030. The accelerator supports nonprofits that are advancing digital inclusion to scale their impact.

As we prepare to commemorate World Refugee Day on June 20, Welcome.US connected with Estuardo Cifuentes Luarte, a newcomer who benefited from Mobile Pathways technology as he began his own journey in the U.S.

Why did you decide to come to the United States? Can you tell us a little about your personal story and how you first discovered Mobile Pathways?

I never really decided to leave my country. I was forced to leave after being attacked by the national police in Guatemala. When I tried to file a complaint against the police who attacked me, it motivated them to try to kidnap me, and when that happened, they shot me. Fortunately, I was able to escape after that incident, but they started a chase against me, which forced me to flee, fearing for my life.

The attack was motivated because they saw me kissing my boyfriend in front of my house. They attacked me because I am gay.

After having crossed Mexico, where I was kidnapped by a cartel for 21 days. After being released, I crossed to the United States to request asylum. But after spending a few days in a detention center, the government enrolled me in the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which was a Trump policy, and I was sent back to Mexico for more than 18 months while I had a removal process in the United States. I came every single month to the United States to see the judge, and they would send me back to Mexico.

During these 18 months I was trying to find help, and I contacted several NGOs. One of them gave me the Mobile Pathways number and told me to subscribe to receive information, because they told me that Mobile Pathways could help me where I was.

What features of Mobile Pathways’ technology helped guide you through the process to legal status in the U.S?

After I registered with Mobile Pathways, I began to receive informational messages about the situation at the border, any new laws, and information about the process. One of them told me how to contact a group of lawyers who were providing legal assistance at the border. After getting organized, I was able to start receiving legal assistance, and that is also how I met the lawyers at Lawyers for Good Government where I currently work.

[The] messages about updates on the situation, which, although they came from expert lawyers, were designed in a language that was easy to understand for those of us who were not familiar with the laws of the United States.

How has your experience impacted your relationship with your new community, as well as your own work and advocacy in this area?

This experience has been the most difficult in my life. I learned first-hand the dangers and difficulties that thousands of people who seek protection go through, and I have taken advantage of my voice and my skills to give back a little of all the help that I received to people who are currently living in the situation in which I was in.

That is why through Project Corazon, our immigration area at Lawyers for Good Government, I fight every day to make the path of these people less painful, through the use of tools and information such as Mobile Pathways.

As we honor and support refugees and newcomers in June, why are organizations like Mobile Pathways important?

I think information is one of the best tools to face reality. Tech NGOs like Mobile Pathways allow large-scale information sharing in a very fast way.

Tools like Mobile Pathways allow thousands of people to receive information of great importance for their own processes and the alliances that Mobile Pathways makes with other NGOs like us, allowing different groups that are dedicated to helping asylum seekers to benefit from the technology that they develop.

How can Welcomers support the work of Mobile Pathways?

I would really like this question to be answered by Ana Ortega-Villegas, program director at Mobile Pathways.

Ana: I think Mobile Pathways wouldn't exist without our partners, because our partners are the experts. They're the ones sharing that information through our platform. So I think as Welcomers first, we need to understand that seeking asylum and refuge is a basic human right, and that our country has made those commitments at the international and national level. We have been a welcoming community, that's how our country was born. As Welcomers, we should remind each other of that kindness that exists around our communities.

And as Estuardo said, use your voice to advocate at any level—talk to your members of Congress, talk to your friends, share the work that you’re doing. Support the NGOs, support the people, use your voice to advocate for the protection of the asylum and refugee system, and speak out when there is injustice. People don’t leave their homes and their families and everything they have worked so hard for just for a better life. People are forced, and it’s a very painful journey.

Also, our Asylum Navigator shows the power of information, and how information can help someone feel a little bit less stressed out to make an informed decision. For asylum seekers stranded at the border, access to information is so difficult. At Mobile Pathways, we believe technology should be used for good. With the Asylum Navigator, what the hope of our team is, to allow people who are in the process who are trying to make informed decisions on where to go and relocate to, and give them an idea of what that asylum process looks like. The Asylum Navigator dashboard shows you based on your nationality, based on if you have an idea which city in the U.S. you may be relocating into, and if you know who your immigration judge is, it can give you an idea of the outcomes of being granted or denied.

Estuardo: I really use this tool every day, and I used this with my own case to know the judge I have assigned to my case. This allowed me to know what to face in the court.

Is there anything else you'd like to highlight?

I would like to ask all the people who are in this fight in favor of migrants, that we stay strong, that we protect those like me who are fleeing for their lives and that we unite so that the process of these people can be less painful and more human.