Goals
Enable refugees and asylum seekers to stay on top of upcoming court dates
Mobile Pathways helps undocumented and under-documented immigrants gain access to reliable legal information about their numerous pathways to immigration via mobile phone technology. The nonprofit organization is composed of immigration attorneys, technology experts, and immigrant advocates.
The immigrant community faces a serious challenge: court dates are set with little rhyme or reason and can be rescheduled at a moment’s notice. If an individual misses a court date because the government’s notification system is arcane and requires constant monitoring, they can be deported with little recourse.
Mobile Pathways knew there was a smarter way to deliver important information to refugees, asylum seekers, and nonprofit organizations that support this group of people. With support from Salesforce.org, we developed a “bot” that extracts court hearing details from the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) and then updates the individual’s record in Salesforce. When the hearing date changes, the individual receives an email and/or text alert.
Challenges
Inefficient system presents barrier for resource-limited individuals
- Refugees and asylum seekers coming into the US must present their case on a specific date and time before an immigration judge
- The government distributes the court’s date and time information through snail mail or an outdated phone recording system
- Phone recordings are only accessible by attorneys which many refugees cannot afford
- Failure to show up at the right date and time of their hearing results in deportation
- In 2018, over 46,000 women, men, and children were ordered deported for this reason
Solutions
SMS text delivery of critical information
- Salesforce empowers immigration advocates to text their immigrant clients’ vital data (court times, updates, ICE detainment information, etc.)
- Date/time changes are communicated via email or text alert
- Immigration advocates track their clients with a unique ID so Mobile Pathways gather vital legal data from government sources
- Heroku robot calls an automated 800 number, parses out the hearing details, and updates Salesforce.
- Nonprofits and Immigration Attorneys leverage MyCamino, a Salesforce Experience platform built by Mobile Pathways so they can track their cases, text updates, find detained inmates, and access crucial legal information for thousands of immigrant clients.
- Download Mobile Pathway’s 2020 Impact Report
