The good Cornellians can do: Cheryl Jones-Richter ’79
When her children were young, Cheryl Jones-Richter '79 worked part-time for a law firm, assisting with pro bono immigration cases. She quickly understood that there were not enough attorneys to assist pro bono or at low cost for clients who need Immigration Court representation.
So, after Cheryl retired from her career as a Global Project Manager for Xerox, she decided to help. In March 2022, Cheryl volunteered with Catholic Charities Immigration Services in her hometown of Rochester, New York. It was shortly after the Afghan evacuation (in fall 2021), and Cheryl jumped in to assist newly arrived Afghan citizens with their asylum cases.
“I interviewed clients to understand the reasons for their fears of returning to Afghanistan, and prepared asylum applications, declaration statements, and other supporting evidence,” she says.
Over the past few years, Cheryl’s team has submitted more than 120 asylum applications for Afghans, all of which have since been approved. One of these cases included a 10-year-old Afghan girl who was separated from her parents during the chaos of the evacuation. She came to the U.S. with her grandfather and aunt and uncle, and Cheryl helped her to prepare her case.
“She wrote her own brief statement about her fear of the Taliban (her grandfather had worked for Afghan police, and the family had opposed the Taliban) and how girls cannot go to school beyond sixth grade. When she had her asylum interview, the Immigration Officer was very kind, and she did an amazing job presenting her case. She was approved for asylum in July 2025, and her Legal Permanent Residence application is pending,” Cheryl says.
In July 2025, Cheryl applied for and received partial accreditation for submission of applications and representation of clients before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. She is now qualified to assist attorneys with pro se (on their own) asylum applications for clients who are facing removal proceedings. Many of these clients are from South America—Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and others.
“These cases are much more challenging, and none have been approved,” Cheryl explains. “The current immigration climate has been challenging, and sometimes disheartening, but we try each day to do what we can to help those who need it."
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