Blurb: what is YourHaq (can be used for social messaging)

[aymannadeem]

In response to Trump's executive order on immigration, @irishbryan and I spent a day building YourHaq, an open source tool that curates community driven content for people navigating changing US immigration laws.

http://yourhaq.com/

I saw several conversations and resources are being circulated online—but information felt fragmented and difficult to find. The question on my mind was: how are those most vulnerable able to quickly access the information they need to protect their rights based on their situation and status in the country (ex., if they're a refugee, green card holder, undocumented, hold a work authorized visa, etc.) More specifically: where do you go to find aid if there's an imminent need for legal help at the risk of detainment, deportation or denial of entry to the United States?

That's where I got the idea for YourHaq. The site is designed to eventually grow to do two things:

1. Connect people seeking legal help with those willing to provide it.
2. Allow folks to share their experiences about what happened to them (ie., build a record of concrete data around where they were, what questions they were asked, what forms they filled, etc.) so that there's more precision around immigration law cases. There isn't a lot of transparency around this, and entry into the country is evaluated on a case-by-case basis and left to the call of the border officer. A collection of experiences pointing at fine grain details may push a more precise understanding and practice.

Right now, YourHaq is just a primitive list of resources (it's the best I could do over a Sunday!) That's why it's open sourced: to allow lawyers, engineers, designers and anyone else with ideas to contribute and improve the service. YourHaq is community driven and open.

"Haq" is an Arabic word whose meaning is found at the intersection of the words "right", "truth" and "just". YourHaq translates to "your right", dedicated to supporting the true American vision of human rights.

Concrete next steps to help with:

1. Filter based on status: Allow users to choose their status (ie., "refugee", "green card holder", "TN visa holder", "US citizen", "undocumented", etc.) and filter search results based on that (and possibly location?)
2. Legal information submission form: Currently, all information is to be submitted on the linked GitHub repository using Issues (if lawyers/legal experts want to submit information, they open an issue detailing their ideas and information). This isn't as accessible as a contact form on the site.
3. Spread the word: community driven projects run on the fuel of energy from people. Share this with those who can help!

[irishbryan]

Nicely done, think this is a good introduction and frames how the current version is a starting point to drive community engagement around YourHaq.