For a family of six facing a final immigration removal hearing, the stakes could hardly have been higher.

Two of the family's four children needed serious medical care. Their parents were struggling financially, and the possibility of deportation threatened to separate the children from the specialized doctors they depended on.

Marian Woznica, an Equal Justice America postgraduate Immigration Fellow at Legal Aid Chicago, filed a motion asking the immigration court to postpone the family's hearing.

For weeks, she received no answer.

As the hearing approached, Marian helped the family prepare for the possibility of removal, discussing contingency plans and what might happen if they were forced to leave the United States.

Then came the news they had desperately hoped for.

The immigration judge granted a one-year continuance.

The family gained another year to seek legal representation, pursue their case, and obtain medical care for their children.

Marian recalled the parents calling her in tears. She cried with them.

It was a moment of extraordinary relief in a fellowship that has often required confronting difficult circumstances and uncertain outcomes.

Since beginning her two-year EJA fellowship in October 2025, Marian has helped immigrants facing detention, deportation, domestic violence, and barriers to lawful employment.

Early in her fellowship, she worked with colleagues to prepare an emergency habeas corpus petition for a seriously ill man detained during an immigration enforcement operation. The court granted the petition, and the man was released on bond.

She has also prepared U visa applications for survivors of crime, worked on asylum matters, assisted with work authorization applications, and helped clients navigate rapidly changing immigration procedures.

Along the way, Marian has developed her legal skills and learned the importance of trauma-informed advocacy. She has also begun helping her colleagues consider how to prioritize cases when the need for representation far exceeds available resources.

Her experience demonstrates the dual impact of EJA's postgraduate fellowships: providing critical legal assistance to people facing urgent challenges today while developing attorneys who can devote their careers to public interest law.

Marian's fellowship is still underway, but her contributions are already making a meaningful difference.

As she wrote after the family's hearing, the decision gave them another year to support their family, raise money, and obtain specialized medical care for their children.

For Marian, it was a reminder of why she chose this work.

We are proud to support Marian and grateful to Legal Aid Chicago for providing an opportunity to serve immigrant communities while developing the next generation of public interest attorneys.

Read Marian's fellowship reports here.