“The Florence Project is not just getting people out of detention. They are allowing people to be people,” shares our client Angela*, reflecting on her experience with the Florence Project. “They are transforming lives.”
Angela was raised in Equatorial Guinea. Because Angela’s mother and father were unable to provide for her, they sent Angela to live with her aunt. Knowing that her aunt was part of what society perceived as a higher social class, Angela’s parents hoped their decision would lead to greater opportunities for their daughter. However, instead of protecting and providing for Angela, her aunt sold her to an older and societally powerful man, forcing her into years of trafficking.
Viewed as part of a lower social class, Angela’s family was left powerless. When Angela’s father tried to intervene to save his daughter, he was imprisoned due to the unfairness of the class system and the power held by Angela’s trafficker.
After enduring nearly seven years of physical and psychological abuse by her trafficker, Angela found the courage to say “enough is enough” and escaped in search of safety.
Thereafter, she embarked on an arduous journey that lasted eight months. She started on a boat and then walked through a vast forest to cross the border into a neighboring country where she continued receiving death threats from her trafficker.
Angela thought that escaping her home country would be enough, but her trafficker was relentless. He continued to search for her publicly. She quickly realized that if she truly wanted to find safety, she had to leave Africa.
Her journey was treacherous and unforgiving. She suffered abuse, assault, and torture, traveling by air, foot, bus, and train. When it came time to cross the infamous and dangerous Darien Gap, she lost her phone and all her possessions. Eight months later, she reached the southern border of the United States.
That day, Angela had been walking in the Mexican desert for over two hours. When she finally stepped on United States territory, she felt a weight lift off her shoulders.
However, when she approached border officials asking for help, she was immediately put in a car and taken to a facility in Yuma, Arizona, where she was photographed and fingerprinted. Later that same day, she was moved to Eloy Detention Center where she was told she would be deported soon thereafter.
Angela did not know what to expect. Even after passing her Credible Fear Interview, an initial step to apply for asylum, she spent the next 11 months detained.
It was in the Eloy Detention Center that Angela met our legal team. Our Adult Legal Program visits people in detention to provide group legal orientations and individual legal consultations for those who are unrepresented in their removal proceedings.
At first, Angela struggled to share what she had lived through. She had endured so much trauma that it was hard to remember specific dates or moments she had tried to forget. Kathy Medina, a Florence Project legal assistant, visited Angela in detention to build rapport and help her feel comfortable enough to share details about her story that would be essential to her case.
“I made sure that she understood I was not above her, but I was learning from her and working alongside her,” shares Kathy.
At first, Angela did not understand that we would represent her for free. She expressed to Kathy that she was stressed about paying us or taking up our time, but Kathy always made sure to reassure her that “this is what we do. This is what we are here for.”
Week after week, we visited Angela, and eventually she began to share more and more of her harrowing story with us. Kathy continued to interview Angela to assist her in preparing her personal declaration and asylum application, two documents that would be essential for Angela’s case.
Since Angela had lost all the official documents that she had brought from her home country while crossing the Darien Gap, our legal team also had to work to gather evidence in other ways. They connected Angela to medical professionals who volunteered their time and expertise to document her physical and psychological trauma.
Angela also had support from our Social Services Program, who helped her persevere through the hardships and uncertainty of immigration detention and legal proceedings.
In 2025, after an eight-month grueling journey to the U.S. and nearly a year in detention, Angela walked into a small private booth in the detention facility to face the judge for her final hearing. She put on large headphones and faced a camera with a judge on the screen, waiting for her future to be decided.
She could see the judge and Philip Rody, her Florence Project attorney, who was firmly advocating for her safety. Angela had survived things no one should ever face, and her story brought the judge to tears. Angela recalls feeling peace the moment the judge granted her asylum. She could stay in the United States and finally live freely and safely. “I can tell you it was the best day of my life,” she says now.
“[The Florence Project] were the first people in a long time to show they cared about me. They showed me that even though life can be dark, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
When reflecting on the moment that Angela was granted asylum, Kathy remembers feeling relief.
Angela is now adapting to life in the U.S., taking English classes and looking forward to the day she can become a U.S. citizen. She hopes to one day speak publicly about her story, so she can inspire and motivate other women who are also seeking safety.
Reflecting on her journey, Angela sends a message to other immigrants, “Trust yourself. Trust your potential. And know that the pain you are feeling is just temporary.”
*Pseudonym used to protect privacy.