The Covid was the trigger, but the requests for assistance filed with the association’s office are not all linked to the pandemic. This ranges from the pensioner deprived of her pension because of administrative concerns to the attacked and stripped tourist who must be helped to return, through much more serious cases such as domestic violence, details Fabrice Buron.
These are situations where, overnight, the person finds himself in total precariousness. If you divorce, as the visa is tied to your marriage, you can no longer work. How does it work with childcare, for example?
Fabrice Buron
The Frenchman acknowledges that since Joe Biden’s arrival at the White House, things are going in the right direction: “We have a much less politically heated and more factual approach to crisis situations. On immigration, there is a less arbitrary position, which goes in the direction of what we were used to before, namely that the United States is a land of welcome. “
The association seeks to put the right people in front of the problems to be solved, all volunteers and volunteers. Himself employed by a software company for the oil industry, married to an American, Fabrice Buron recognizes that his associative commitment is time-consuming and akin to real painstaking work:
“We must develop a network by word of mouth, first source all the experts, local professionals (lawyers, etc.) that we can mobilize on a voluntary basis. It takes an enormous amount of time to discuss, understand the situation, identify people who can help or find an economically viable situation. “
The range of action of the association goes beyond the borders of Texas since it extends to the neighboring states of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, or 15,000 French in total.
In the office, we find another Frenchwoman, Émilie Roux, mother of four children, also married to an American seismologist in the oil sector. Arrived in Houston in the summer of 2019, professional photographer, she devotes most of her free time to the association: “I had an image of Épinal expatriates, she says. I thought they were living more of a privileged life. I heard noises but I didn’t know these were real true cases. “
Apolitical, secular, the association is looking for goodwill, but also what to finance its actions. She plans to organize an event on July 14, 2021 to raise funds from local businesses. It has also just recently proved its usefulness by receiving the exceptional grant released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the French victims of Covid-19. She then distributed it among the various applicants, depending on the urgency of their situation.
Write to Fabrice Buron: [email protected]
Write to Emilie Roux: [email protected]
The association SOS French in Texas
Find this column on the app, the website and in the international mobility magazine “French abroad.fr“
–
