providing compassionate accompaniment to immigrants seeking asylum

Viator House participants have experienced horrors like finding family members murdered, being tortured by their government, being threatened with murder, being beaten and left for dead by gang members.

Yes, under U.S. law anyone can come to our nation and request asylum. Each young man at Viator House has permission from the government to be in the nation while his asylum case is being decided.

Most have entered at the southwestern border as minors and asked for protection. Some of our Afghan participants were evacuated by the U.S. when their nation fell to the Taliban.

Young people under 18 seeking asylum in the U.S. are processed at the border and sent to a government-funded home for immigrant minors. There, workers search for relatives willing to take the minor in. If a minor has no family with which to live and turns 18, that minor must still leave the program. That is why Viator House opened.

Attorneys or advocates working with them who know about VHH reach out when a client needs housing. Normally, Viator House welcomes a young man as a participant on his 18th birthday, when he must leave the government-funded home for minor immigrants.

Yes. At times Viator House has accepted young men who are 18 or older, but are living in dangerous or unhealthy settings. We have also secured the release of 18- and 19-year-old men sent to adult immigration jails because they had no family in the U.S.

As best we can, through a personal interview and discussions with the attorney or advocate who recommends him, we make sure a young man doesn’t have a violent history or medical needs that we cannot meet.

At times, because we have no empty rooms or we cannot meet their medical needs.

Yes, participants are not released into our custody. They are released on their own recognizance and can change their address at any time. VHH is not required to report their move to the government.

Asylum-seekers must wait 150 days after filing an asylum application before applying for a work permit, and then wait weeks more to receive it. VHH staff helps participants with permits find jobs. Like U.S. citizens, participants with work permits pay taxes.

VHH offers each young man opportunities to go to school, learn English, master basic living skills for life in the U.S., as well as access to mental and medical health services. VHH also offers a safe community with a sense of camaraderie among the participants.

The wait is normally years. As of Spring, 2023, there were more than one million asylum cases waiting for resolution. If denied asylum, a participant can appeal the denial.

VHH receives almost no government money. More than 95 percent of our budget is funded by private grants, faith communities and more than 500 individual donors.

Volunteers help VHH participants adapt to life in the U.S. in many ways. Among other things, they help young men learn English, succeed in school, learn to cook, get to work or back home, plan their finances and search for cars or apartments. Most importantly, volunteers help replace the family and friends our participants have left behind.