Schnader Recognized with Golden Door Award

Schnader is proud to announce that the firm will be a  recipient of a Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) Golden Door Award in recognition of our attorneys’ efforts on behalf of immigrant children.  David Smith, Bruce Merenstein, Ralph Wellington, Jeanne Barnum, Edward Sholinsky, and Monica Clarke Platt spearheaded the firm’s considerable work with HIAS. Members of the team have helped numerous children gain legal status and transition to life in the United States.

One client Schnader represented was regularly abused, taken out of school, and forced to work on a road construction crew by his father in Guatemala. Eventually, his father kicked him out of his home and gave him money to go to the United States, telling him never to return. The client ended up in a foster home in West Philadelphia, facing removal proceedings that would have sent him back to Guatemala. Attorneys obtained a dependency determination from Family Court, then successfully sought Special Immigrant Juvenile status from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS).  As a result, CIS terminated the removal proceedings. Schnader then assisted the client in applying for lawful permanent residency. 

David Smith and Bruce Merenstein discuss the firm’s efforts in this video.  

HIAS Pennsylvania provides legal and supportive services to immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers from all backgrounds in order to assure their fair treatment and full integration into American society. The organization offers representation and legal counseling before immigration agencies and courts; citizenship, refugee resettlement and other social services for newly-arriving immigrants and refugees; and advocacy and education related to immigrant rights.