CrowdJustice part-funded the Brexit judicial review, now it’s heading across the pond
A UK crowdfunding platform is launching in the United States (US) to help the country bring legal challenges against its controversial president.
On home soil CrowdJustice has raised money for some of the biggest legal challenges in recent history, including the Brexit case and the junior doctors vs Jeremy Hunt court battle.
Now it’s heading west, to a country crying out for the legal profession to help keep President Donald Trump in line.
Lawyers from across the US arrived at airports en masse this weekend to help those who have been detained under the president’s new immigration ban.
Trump’s executive order effectively shelves the US’ refugee programme for 120 days. Banning all Syrian refugees indefinitely, it also suspends the entry of nationals from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for three months.
How fitting, then, that the first American case to be featured on CrowdJustice is ‘Aziz v. Trump’.
The case is about two brothers from Yemen, who were barred from entering the States on lawful green cards. Upon touching down at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, the 19 and 21-year-olds were “handcuffed, detained, and forced to sign papers that they had neither read nor understood.” The CrowdJustice page goes on to say the pair were then put on a plane to Ethiopia, where they are still located.
The Legal Aid Justice Center, which is taking the case forward, hopes it can raise funds to help bring the brothers back to the US and to restore their immigration status. It adds:
We are seeking the same for each of the other [approximately] 60 Visa holders and Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) deported from Dulles under similar circumstances.
At the time of publication, the crowdfunding campaign has raised $4,135 (£3,311).
Julia Salasky, founder and CEO of CrowdJustice, seems to be feeling positive about the launch. She said:
CrowdJustice is honored to launch its first campaign in the US with the Legal Aid Justice Center during such a pivotal moment in our nation’s history to defend and uphold our constitution and the rights and freedoms our country was founded on.
Legal Cheek wants to give Salasky a special shout out here. At just 34-years-old, her website now stands to be at the centre of two of the most exciting periods in recent legal history (Brexit and Trump). A former Linklaters associate who only qualified in 2012, we are unsurprised Salasky was last week named as one of the most influential lawyers in the country.
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