News

Juan Redin
Associate
Los Angeles

After five years of waiting in limbo on his immigration status, Marlon Caballero Cacho, who Fulbright & Jaworski began representing in 2005, received his permanent residency card earlier this week. Marlon was awarded permanent residency based on Fulbright’s claim of Special Immigrant Juvenile status. Special Immigrant Juvenile status is a form of relief for immigrant children who are abused, abandoned, or neglected by their parents in their home countries.

Abandoned by his mother and step-father when he was just eight years old, Marlon’s family moved to Guatemala, leaving Marlon in Honduras, alone, to live on the streets. Marlon relied solely on friendly strangers for support and survival. Around the age of twelve, Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS 13) gang members began to physically harm Marlon and threaten him with death. Fearing for his life and nowhere to turn, Marlon fled for the United States at the age of fifteen. After two unsuccessful attempts, Marlon arrived in the United States only to be immediately detained by immigration officials in Brownsville, Texas.

Marlon was then sent to a shelter for unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children and spent nearly a year there before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released him to his uncle in California. While Marlon was living with his uncle, he attended and graduated from high school where he impressed his teachers with his studious and hard-working attitude.

Marlon was granted Special Immigrant Juvenile status in March 2006 and was awarded permanent residency in September 2007. Despite officially being awarded permanent residency since 2007, due to several grave administrative and bureaucratic errors, Marlon never received his residency card and his life was placed on hold. Although Marlon had proof of his residency status, the mere fact that he did not receive his residency card prevented him from obtaining a social security number, working legally and continuing his goal of pursuing higher education. It took nearly two and a half years to correct the injustice and ensure that Marlon received his residency card, and with it, the opportunity to become a fully-integrated member of our community.

Marlon was obviously ecstatic and overwhelmed with emotion when he finally held that elusive "green card" in his hands. Marlon wishes to expresses his utmost gratitude to Fulbright for representing and supporting him throughout the entire process, recognizing Fulbright's commitment to social justice and support of pro bono matters.

Fulbright associate Juan Redin represented Marlon in the case.