Pande fled the Democratic Republic of Congo — and, ultimately, the African continent — after he said he was imprisoned, tortured and targeted for assassination during his fight for peace under a corrupt government.
More than a decade after he resettled in Denver, first under a U.S. visa and then as an asylee, he’s seeking a green card. For now, Pande, who asked that his last name be withheld because of continuing safety concerns, is waiting to travel to Nigeria to bury his mother as her only surviving son.
He’s among Coloradans who have been granted asylum but are looking at uncertain futures amid recent deviations from the longstanding federal approach to handling permanent resident applications under President Donald Trump’s administration.
Earlier this year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services temporarily suspended its processing of refugees’ and asylees’ applications. National news outlets first reported the pause in late March, citing the Trump administration’s direction to USCIS. The policy change was tied to an executive order signed on Jan. 20, when Trump was inaugurated, that called for enhanced screening and vetting across federal agencies, as well as a presidential action designating cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Though the suspension officially lasted only about two weeks, the resulting confusion has persisted — largely, say local immigration attorneys, because of the agency’s lack of communication about its shifting approaches. For now, the legal pathway to secure what’s known as a green card, which signifies permanent residency, doesn’t feel as clear-cut to hopeful immigrants as it once was.
Pande, 56, worries that he may never lay his mother to rest. Green card holders are allowed to travel abroad, but asylees can do so only with federal approval — and Pande hasn’t received permission.
“I’m stuck. I don’t know what to do,” he said. “I’m seeing my mother every day in my dream, asking me to bury her.”
In a statement, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told The Denver Post that a temporary pause was placed on finalizing certain “adjustment of status” applications — which are used to request permanent resident status — to better identify fraud as well as public safety or national security concerns through additional screening and vetting.
The agency says the pause was lifted on April 10, but Denver-area lawyers say that reversal hasn’t been communicated widely, resulting in further confusion for them and their clients. While a federal spokesperson informed The Post of the resumption, neither USCIS nor Homeland Security have publicly shared word of the reinstatement in their news releases.
Obtaining a permanent-resident card takes time, money and energy. For now, those applicants are left with unanswered questions about their future in the United States, too.
“There are no real clear instructions or framework — or anything, really, from the feds right now — about what they’re doing or why they’re doing it,” said Nicholas Pierce, an immigration attorney and the director of nonprofit Amistad Law in Westminster.
Camila Palmer, a Denver immigration lawyer, is representing Pande. She said the decision by USCIS has affected other clients, too.
“The government believes there’s high fraud in these cases — but really, these applicants have been vetted already before getting their asylum granted,” Palmer said.
She said she received a notice that the agency planned to stop processing asylees’ green card applications, but Palmer was never told that the policy was lifted until The Post informed her.
As an immigration attorney, she said it’s been difficult to advise clients on cases like this because of the rapidly changing policies that leave them scrambling to figure out timing.
“It’s also particularly unfortunate for these asylees, many of whom have been waiting over 10 years to get an interview to get asylum in the first place,” Palmer said.
Journey from Congo to the U.S.
The uncertainty is affecting Denverites who are waiting to receive their green cards to apply for jobs, to bring their families to the U.S. or to take steps towards obtaining American citizenship, Palmer said.
When Pande reflects on his country of birth, he describes an African nation divided by religion and tribalism — and a government plagued by corruption, rigged elections and political assassinations. He said much of the conflict is tied to control over the Congo’s minerals.
“People are dying every day,” Pande said. “There’s no good hospital in Congo as I’m talking to you now. No good road. There’s no good water. There’s no electricity. There’s no industry. Nothing is working in that country.”
As a young man, Pande said, he attended seminary school in hopes of becoming a priest in the Catholic Church. He preached to the community about making a change and building better governance.
By the turn of the 21st century, Pande said he was trying to foster peace by speaking out about human rights, but government officials felt threatened by his rhetoric. So Pande was arrested. He recalled one torture tactic used against him: covering his face with a plastic bag, tying his limbs and throwing him in a river.
“Those people — I can say that they are demons who exist in the human flesh,” Pande said.
Pande, an immigrant from the Democratic Republic of Congo, sits for a photo at Expo Park in Aurora, Colorado, on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
His uncle and his brother, who was a Catholic bishop, helped Pande — then 35 — escape in the early 2000s. Pande’s brother was ultimately murdered for it, he said.
After he fled to Zimbabwe, he said, a Congolese politician hired an assassin to kill him. He still has a scar where he said a bullet grazed his head.
Once Pande received a U.S. visa, he left Zimbabwe in the night, he said. Pande traveled directly to Denver to reunite with a friend. He started working as a truck driver, which he still does today. And he filed his asylum paperwork, waiting for about a decade before it was granted, he said.
During that time, his family stayed behind in the Congo. He helped relocate them to South Africa, then Nigeria, constantly worrying about their well-being.
Pande’s wife and children moved to Denver last year. Now, he feels desperate to wrap up his unfinished business in Africa and give his mother peace in the afterlife.
She passed away four years ago in Nigeria, Pande said. Because she’s a foreigner, the locals won’t bury her, he said. Instead, it’s up to Pande to perform the funerary rituals.
Pande has asked Palmer for advice on how to travel, but he said they jointly decided against it because of the risk he potentially wouldn’t be allowed to reenter the United States.
Green card isn’t guaranteed
Being granted asylum or refugee status doesn’t automatically guarantee someone a green card in the United States, said Pierce from Amistad Law in Westminster.
“The standards for those two things are different,” Pierce said. “Asylum is a bit more forgiving than the green card process because asylum is all about protection.”
An immigrant may be eligible to apply for a green card through employment or a family member who is a U.S. citizen. Human trafficking and crime victims may qualify, along with some Afghan and Iraqi nationals who previously worked with the U.S. government or military.
Refugees and asylees who were granted their status at least one year prior are able to apply as well.
As of late April, Pierce said his firm had filed about 1,800 immigration benefits requests on behalf of asylees and refugees over the last 20 months. That amounted to around 100 cases per month in the Denver area, he added.
Pierce works primarily with clients — many of whom escaped persecution — from Muslim and Middle-Eastern countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan, though he’s also taken dozens of Venezuelan and Colombian cases.
Like Palmer, Pierce also said government officials didn’t inform him that the temporary pause for green card processing had ceased before The Post brought it to his attention.
On top of that, Pierce said the Trump administration has also required asylees applying for permanent residency to attend interviews more often. That’s a pivot from past policies, with Pierce estimating that he used to attend only two interviews annually. The number has since jumped to as many as six in one day, he said.
“That (change) by itself is gonna … greatly slow down the process and consume enormous amounts of resources into doing what is pretty unnecessary,” Pierce said.
People with asylum status already have gone through intense vetting, he said, including multiple background checks and disclosure of the person’s relationships, employment, leases and education.
But Pierce has seen progress in some cases. He recently received a green card for a refugee client — the first to arrive since the federal pause was implemented. The delivery left him feeling encouraged.
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