Juan José Bestard de la Feria became a citizen of the United States of America Nov. 13, 2018 thanks to help from JALA.
Juan José, 66, was a political refugee who fled his native Cuba after having been arrested and put in Cuban prison without any process for three years.
During that time he was forced to do hard labor for opposing the Communist government and for advocating for the human rights of illegal detainees. As a result, he was left with a variety of medical problems. Juan Jose’s JALA immigration attorney, Andrea Pinzon, had been working with him since 2011, when she helped him get his first employment card and then his green card. She began working closely with Juan José and his doctor to file a medical waiver that would allow him to waive the civics part of the citizenship exam. Juan José’s major impediment to becoming a U.S. citizen was his inability to learn the civics, history and English required for the naturalization exam due to various medical conditions stemming from his illegal detention and forced labor in Cuba.
Pinzon filed a citizenship application for JuanJosé with a request for an expedited processing due to the impending loss of his federal disability benefits. But when Juan José had his interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in June, the officer rejected his medical waiver and failed him on his naturalization exam despite Pinzon’s pleadings regarding the potential loss of his SSI benefits.
“We conferenced multiple times with Juan Jose’s doctor to write a more complete medical waiver form,” Pinzon said. “This form is very challenging, as the USCIS officers require such specific language that many doctors are not willing to sign, or willing to take the time to draft, and we as lawyers do not have the medical expertise to provide more help to the doctor with the task at hand.”
With Pinzon’s help, Juan José received a second and final interview on Nov. 1,, 2018. After 30 minutes reviewing the medical waiver, the USCIS officer interviewed Juan José regarding his application and his entire refugee file since before he entered the United States. After an hour and a half of interview, the officer recommended Juan José for approval. Finally a U.S. citizen, Juan José is grateful to Pinzon and JALA for helping him through a process he’d been unable to navigate on his own.
