Expanding Representation, Building Hope
A story about the power of immigrant leadership in legal representation from Building Hope in the City, a CLINIC Affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio.
Nick Tribuzzo sat behind his desk, staring at a list of names on his computer. “Ibrahim, Syrian refugee, needs status adjustment, filing deadline, October 5; Kamia, Congolese refugee, needs status adjustment, filing deadline, Sept. 28…” The list went on and on.
He took a deep breath. It was now mid-August, and the list of potential Immigration and Legal Services, or ILS, clients needing immediate help just kept piling up. As the only attorney in the ILS department at Building Hope in the City, in Cleveland, Ohio, his caseload was full. He put his head in his hands, spirits sinking.
Nick couldn’t stand continuing to turn people away. He knew the stakes for these potential clients were high — without legal help, many families could lose legal status or work authorization, leading to stress and poverty, or face deportation, leading to family separation.
He looked up and across the office, where his colleague, Geeta Sharma, sat behind another desk, typing away. She looked focused and diligent, as usual. But he knew that she, like him, was beginning to lose hope that her application to become a Department of Justice accredited representative would ever get approved.
With this special accreditation from the government, non-attorneys like Geeta could provide many forms of legal representation to immigrant clients — including filing paperwork and even representing them in court. It had been one year since they filed the application, after months of preparation.
“I’m starting to think it just won’t happen,” Geeta had told Nick.
Meanwhile, they had recently turned away several clients whose cases they’d been hoping she could take on.
Nick opened his email. One more email to the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Access Programs, or OLAP, inquiring after the status of their application couldn’t hurt. He typed up the email and sent it off. A moment later, an automatic reply popped up.
“Thank you for your inquiry. OLAP is currently processing Recognition and Accreditation applications submitted in March 2022. We will return your email as soon as possible.”
Nick stared at the email in disbelief. March 2022?! But they had submitted their application six months earlier, in August 2021! What could possibly be the delay? He quickly hit forward and typed in the name of their contact at CLINIC, Laura Burdick, who’d been helping them with the application process.
“Laura, just got this from OLAP. Do you know what this is about? Thanks, Nick.”
He closed his computer and went to confer with Geeta.
Over a year earlier, Nick and his director had hired Geeta after a search among their network for the right candidate.
As the only attorney within Immigration and Legal Services at the organization, Nick had been searching for a candidate who could not only help with administrative work, but who was also interested in becoming a DOJ accredited representative as well so that they could take on some of the numerous immigration legal cases referred to ILS from other departments.
Geeta Sharma was a former refugee from Bhutan, who had grown up in India, and a former client of Building Hope in the City. She had become a U.S. citizen along with her family several years prior through support from Building Hope.
Nick knew Geeta was hardworking, smart, and dedicated to the immigrant community. But what set her apart was her long-standing passion for this kind of work.
“Ever since I was a little girl in India, I’ve wanted to be a representative, to help people from different backgrounds and communities,” Geeta had told him.
She explained that her own experience as a refugee who received help with her immigration legal needs made her want to provide that help for others.
This was exactly what Nick had been looking for: a member of the immigrant and refugee community who would be able to relate to clients and support them based on their own experience.
In the back of Nick’s mind was his own family history. His grandfather had told him the story of his parents, Nick’s great-grandparents, who’d arrived as immigrants to the U.S. Their lives were changed when they were able to find legal help from a member of their own community, who spoke their language and helped them navigate the complex legal system to gain legal residency. Seeing their own story in the life of the legal representative who helped them made all the difference.
Building Hope in the City hired Geeta in March of 2020. At first Geeta took on mostly clerical work — paperwork, forms, and other ILS office tasks. But she also began training to become a DOJ representative, including through taking CLINIC’s Comprehensive Overview of Immigration Law, or COIL, course.
Geeta and Nick started working with Laura Burdick, a Field Support Coordinator at CLINIC, to prepare Geeta’s application for accreditation. The process required numerous phone calls and emails back and forth to get all the paperwork ready. Then, in August 2021, they submitted the application.
“Now, we wait,” Laura told them.
The months passed by, and then it was closing in on a year. About once per month, Nick checked in with OLAP on the status of their application, but the process seemed to be at a stand-still. Meanwhile, cases were piling up.
On that day in mid-August 2022, Nick sent one last email inquiry to USCIS and Laura. The next day, Laura replied giving him a more direct number at OLAP to call and check in, and Nick left a voicemail. Later that week, with still no apparent progress, Laura decided to make some phone calls herself.
In the middle of the week Nick got an email from Laura. “Hi Nick, I spoke to a supervisor at OLAP. You should be getting an email about your application in the next few days,” she told him.
Within about 12 hours, Nick received an email in his inbox from OLAP. He stared at the email, blinking in disbelief, then astonishment, and then dawning joy. It had happened – Geeta’s application had been approved, and she was now accredited.
“Geeta, it’s here! You got your accreditation!” Geeta covered her mouth with her hands. They both had tears in their eyes.
After sharing a moment of elation, Nick and Geeta quickly printed off copies of the accreditation letter and headed downstairs to the “café,” or large meeting room, where much of the staff and some clients were gathered.
They passed around copies of the letter, face down, and instructed people to wait to turn it over. They counted down and everyone turned over the copies at the same time. There was a pause as people digested the news.
“Geeta, congratulations!” “No WAY!” “Oh my goodness, finally!” “What amazing news!”
The room exploded with sounds of rejoicing. The whole office had watched Geeta’s long process of preparation and application: the many hours she'd spent studying, working with other staff to learn the processes, filling out paperwork, and waiting.
They knew what this news meant to her and Nick — but also what it would mean for their clients, and for the ones they’d had to turn away.
Nick shot off an email to Laura with the news. “I sure know today would be another day without an email if it wasn't for you reaching out on our behalf. Thank you for doing the extra work and for always being accessible,” he wrote.
Just days later, Geeta sat down with an immigrant family to help them prepare their green card applications. She calmly walked them through the forms, the processing time, the steps, and assured them that she would be with them throughout it all.
“I felt so proud at that moment,” Geeta told Nick afterward.
Nick looked on during that meeting. At one point, when Geeta was explaining the security clearance questions included in one of the forms, the family appeared confused.
Geeta paused, explained further, and gently said, “This part was confusing to me too when I went through it.”
Hearing this, Nick’s heart swelled with pride and emotion. He knew this was only the beginning, too. He and Geeta dreamed of an office full of refugee and immigrant legal representatives — truly, an organization led and run by them. With her accreditation, Geeta could lead the way for others.
“Many practitioners can help people get a green card, but very few of them can reflect the struggle and the promise that I think Geeta can provide,” Nick later reflected.
“[At that moment I knew] Geeta is exactly what the world needs.”
This story was written by Kathleen Kollman Birch through interviews with Nick Tribuzzo and Geeta Sharma.
CLINIC wants to express its sincere gratitude to Nick and Geeta for their willingness to share their stories, and to Building Hope in the City for sharing photos for this piece.
If you are interested in learning more about how to become a DOJ accredited representative, you can find more information on our website here.
To make a donation to support CLINIC's work expanding legal representation for immigrants, please click here.
CLINIC advocates for humane and just immigration policy. Its network of nonprofit immigration programs — over 450 organizations in 49 states and the District of Columbia — is the largest in the nation.
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