INDIANAPOLIS — Immigration remains a major topic heading into the November election. Jenny Bojang thinks about the immigration process every day.

She and her Husband Harun met while she was serving in the Peace Corp. Their love started as a friendship. He was a driver and at the time they met, married. His wife died due to complication during child birth, not long after he got in a car accident.

After knowing each other for a while they ended up having feelings for each other. Harun introduced Jenny to his mother and the rest is history.

“It was obvious that he had the same feelings for me that I had for him,” Jenny said.

Jenny stayed overseas for a few years to help her husband raise his kids along with his mother, while they were just dating. Then in 2018 they decided to marry in a cultural ceremony. Six days later she left for a government job in Indianapolis, where she has lived since.

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Now she has two bedrooms that are move in ready for her husband’s kids who she considers her own. They started all the paperwork that was needed in 2020.

“Things were being approved things were moving to the right places,” Jenny said. “The all of the sudden COVID hit and everything all the immigration got shut down embassy’s got shut down.”

Due to the pandemic, her original petition for her husband and their children expired. She tried to expedite the process so her family could meet her dad before he passed. That request was denied.

“That didn’t get to happen and that is heart breaking,” Megan Pastrana an Attorney and CEO of Immigration for couples said. “That’s irreparable harm that happened because of the immigration system.

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Pastrana says navigating the immigration process can take years, which isn’t fair to couples trying to do everything correctly.

“They say that they have a high volume of cases, and they don’t have enough immigration officers to review the cases,” Pastrana said.

The process requires couples to prove their love to the government something Jenny detailed in stacks of papers and notes dedicated to the process. While she knows she isn’t alone she hopes sharing her story can show people a different side of the immigration system.

“See us and not just look at these cases as a case number but look at each one of these cases as if you know this is their family member,” Jenny said.

Jenny and her husband are waiting for their interview with immigration officials. She says, they haven’t gotten a timeline yet for when that interview will take place. Once it does, that’s when the system will decide whether he can and his children get to come to the states on Visa’s. Then the process of applying for a green card begins.

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We reached out to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office for comment. They didn’t share information about Jenny’s case specifically but they sent the information below on how they make decisions.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office:

USCIS adjudicates each request for immigration benefits fairly, humanely, and efficiently on a case-by-case basis to determine if it meets established eligibility criteria required under applicable laws, regulations, and policies. The agency remains committed to breaking down barriers in the immigration system, reducing undue burdens on those eligible for benefits, and upholding America’s promise as a nation of welcome and possibility with fairness, integrity, and respect for all we serve.

The length of the application process may vary depending on biometrics submission requirements, reliance on the grant of an underlying benefit requested, and whether applicants have demonstrated they’ve met the established criteria for approval. If an applicant has not initially provided sufficient evidence to establish eligibility, then USCIS may issue a Request for Evidence, which can extend processing times in individual cases. Each case is reviewed based on the totality of the evidence and there may be variations on how long they take to adjudicate. USCIS posts national median processing times for certain forms on the Historical National Median Processing Timewebpage.

Applicants can check and track the status of their case by going to Case Status Online on our website. This feature allows applicants to keep up with the progress of their immigration application, petition or request. Applicants can access it by creating a free account online. Applicants have the ability to file an expedited processing request. USCIS will review each request for expedited processing to determine if the case meets established eligibility criteria to qualify. More details are available here: How to Make an Expedite Request.

Applicants with questions about the status of their case can reach out to our Contact Centereither by phone or onlineto request an appointment at a local field office for assistance.

Alan Gosnell’s last day on Earth started like most others during the past seven years.

He was working his noon to 8 p.m. shift as a foreman of the sound and light division at the Indianapolis Convention Center. On Sept 11, 2024, he was scheduled to complete additional maintenance and cleaning jobs as the convention center’s team was putting on the final touches for the Indiana Wellness Summit expected to start the following day.

Nearing the end of the day, he had completed much of his work and decided to take a break inside the sound and light division office with a coworker.

This is where Gosnell first encountered Brian Fulton.

Gosnell didn’t know Fulton, according to court documents, and when Fulton approached the office, Gosnell did not interact or speak with him, witnesses told police.

The man walked away before Gosnell left the office to check on equipment in the area. That’s when the attack happened. Inside a hallway on the second floor of the convention center, Gosnell would draw his last breath.

Fulton was primarily charged with murder, but as of Monday, he had not formally been charged.

This unwarranted attack left many in the city questioning downtown’s safety, but more importantly, it has left Gosnell’s family with heartbreaking questions that may never receive answers.

Who was Alan Gosnell?

To many, Gosnell was known as “Big Al,” a kind man who would help anyone.

“I don’t know why this guy would do something (to him),” said John Gosnell. “My brother would never do anything to hurt anybody… He was just a big Teddy Bear.”

There were only a few things in this world that Alan Gosnell loved more than his passion for audio and lighting visuals and that was his family.

He would take any opportunity allotted to him to share stories about his grandchild and how excited he was to meet his next grandchild due later this year.

That opportunity was stolen.

Indiana Convention Center attack

Many in the community are still trying to understand what motivated Fulton to allegedly kill Gosnell inside the Indianapolis Convention Center on Sept. 11, 2024.

An employee of the convention center told police that Fulton approached her acting “weird” and kept referencing the roof. Unsure of what Fulton was asking, she led him to the light and sound office.

Fulton continued asking nonsensical questions about the roof before leaving the doorway, according to court documents. Then Gosnell left the office to check the equipment.

Soon after multiple people heard Gosnell screaming for Fulton to stop attacking him, according to court documents.

Witnesses saw Gosnell being beaten before he was strangled with “some kind of phone charge cable,” according to court documents.

“He got what he deserved,” a witness heard Fulton say before leaving the Indiana Convention Center, perplexing those who know him.

“Such a tragedy, I worked with (Gosnell) at the Indiana Convention Center, he was a very nice guy, such a senseless killing,” Bernadette Billerman-Mooney said on social media.

Police detained Fulton about two blocks from the convention center.

After being arrested, Fulton told detectives he was military and CIA and “had just neutralized an international terrorist nuclear threat.” When asked to elaborate on his statement, Fulton told detectives he would not say more and wanted a lawyer.

‘He was a one-of-a-kind person’

After reading about how his brother was killed, John Gosnell could not understand why Fulton would do this to his brother.

Unlike other family members who served in the military, Alan Gosnell followed his passion for audio and visual arts early in life and decided to go to college.

Gosnell moved to Arizona and attended Phoenix Institute of Technology as a young adult, where he learned the ins and outs of being an audio and visual stagehand.

He followed his passion for nearly three decades and traveled the country as a stagehand operating the lighting and audio for countless monster truck shows and worked with Markey’s an Indianapolis audiovisual equipment rental service before joining the convention center staff.

“He was a one-of-a-kind person,” John Gosnell said.

Everyone knew Gosnell as ‘Big Al’, many believed it was due to his size, but his brother revealed that the nickname stemmed from a childhood joke.

“When we were growing up he was about 5 foot 4 and weighed about 110 pounds,” his brother said. “We called him ‘Big Al’ because it was kind of an opposite thing. And then in his senior year, he grew to 5 foot 11.”

Growing up Alan Gosnell loved Indiana University basketball and followed Notre Dame football religiously. But after his son started attending Purdue University, he grew to love the Boilermakers.

Beyond his immediate family, many of his fellow union workers and members of his stagehand family shared the devastation of Gosnell’s death.

“Al Gosnell, a beloved employee of the Capital Improvement Board, lost his life … in a senseless act of violence.  Al worked with us for more than 10 years and was a great friend to his colleagues. Our CIB family mourns his loss, and we hold his family in our hearts,” said Monica Brase, spokesperson for the Indiana Convention Center.

The killing raised questions among residents about the safety of downtown Indianapolis and security at the Convention Center, which draws people to the city year-round.

Andy Mallon, executive director of the Indianapolis’s Capital Improvement Board, addressed security concerns at last Thursday’s City-County Council committee meeting.

At the time Gosnell was killed the convention center had 24-hour security in place and a uniformed Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer was on the same floor, Mallon said.

Still, Mallon said he appreciated being “held accountable” and would review what more could be done to increase safety at the Convention Center.

Contact IndyStar reporter Noe Padilla at npadilla@indystar.com.

The Indianapolis Colts were steamrolled in Sunday’s 16-10 loss as Green Bay extended the NFL’s longest active home opener win streak and the second-longest streak in league history to 12 games.

Immaculate weather conditions at Lambeau Field are rare, even in mid-Sept. Packers starting quarterback Jordan Love was out with a sprained MCL. Backup QB Malik Willis – whom Green Bay acquired less than three weeks ago on Aug. 26 – was making his fourth career start.

It was Willis’ first start since Week 16 in ‘22 with the Tennessee Titans, but the dual-threat signal caller avoided making any mistakes in his home debut. Willis zipped his first career touchdown pass from 14-yards out to receiver Dontayvion Wicks. His longest completion of the game was his first deep pass downfield as receiver Romeo Doubs mossed Colts cornerback Jaylon Jones inside the red zone for a 39-yard gain.

Green Bay racked up 165 rushing yards on 20 carries in the opening frame, while Indianapolis scattered just three plays for positive yardage. Midway through the second quarter, Green Bay had outgained Indianapolis 248 total yards to 47. The Packers brutally punished the Colts with a lethal rushing attack that collected 261 yards on the ground on 53 carries, 4.9 yards per carry.

The Colts struggled to set the edge and were unprepared in any sort of effort to contain Packers’ running back Josh Jacobs, the second veteran tailback to have a career day against Indianapolis this season. Jacobs finished with 151 rushing yards (third-most in his NFL career) on 32 carries (second-most in his NFL career), averaging 4.7 yards per carry.

On Indianapolis’ very first play inside Packers’ territory, second-year QB Anthony Richardson sailed his pass over the outstretched arms of receiver Alec Pierce. Packers’ safety Xavier McKinney sat back in centerfield to intercept the pass like a routine fly ball. Richardson’s second interception landed right into the chest of Packers’ linebacker Eric Wilson and his third pick on a Hail Mary heave ended the game. Richardson completed 17 of 34 passes for 201 passing yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.

In his 100th career game, Indianapolis’ team captain Zaire Franklin veritably had his back against the wall and heels in his own end zone as the Packers led 10-0 on the brink of extending the lead. Franklin met Jacobs in front of the goal line and punched the ball free to make perhaps the most impactful play of the game in regards to win expectancy. Colts first-round draft pick Laiatu Latu dove on the football to recover the fumble in the end zone and momentarily save the game. With his 23rd career game of 10-plus-tackles, Franklin tied former Super Bowl champion Gary Brackett for second-most such performances in franchise history.

Colts head coach Shane Steichen fed running back Jonathan Taylor on consecutive carries to ignite a much needed response midway through the third quarter. Taylor led the Colts with 103 rushing yards on 12 carries, 8.6 yards per carry. The former Wisconsin Badger accounted for (40%) of Indianapolis’ total net yards. It was Taylor’s 17th 100-yard-game, which is the third most games in franchise history. Taylor burst past defenders and kept fighting to gain extra yards with his best run of the game for 29-yards to drive inside Packers’ territory. Colts kicker Matt Gay delivered da 34-yard field goal to put the Colts on the scoreboard.

Indianapolis begins the 2024 regular season with a dreaded 0-2 record after perhaps the most disturbing performance during the Steichen era. The Colts pitiful effort featured punts on three of the first four drives, three interceptions, three fumbles and two turnovers on downs. Gay missed a 50-yard FG attempt wide left as the Colts failed to cash in an essential scoring opportunity early in the fourth quarter. Despite trailing for 55 minutes, the first win of the season was still there for the taking until time expired.

“We just started out slow,” Richardson told reporters. “It’s frustrating when you have a decent week of practice. You execute a certain way in practice. You game plan a certain way and then you get to the game and some things are switched up and you adjust a little too late.”

Indianapolis is still searching for its identity as its offense has held possession for less than 40 minutes out of 120 minutes of football. The Colts have allowed a league-worst 474 rushing yards through two games and still have yet to solidify five starters in the secondary. To make matters excruciatingly worse, defensive tackle DeForest Buckner was carted off the field after he injured his right ankle late in the third quarter. There are 15 more guaranteed games this season, but concerns on all three phases are burgeoning on a weekly basis in Indy.