timely legal assistance to the immigrants to help avert any incidences of exploitation in the state
Introduction
In response to the request for proposal, our organization aims to respond to the New York Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD). It seeks to offer legal services as required in capacity 1 of the framework. With rising numbers of immigrants in New York state, both documented and undocumented, these immigrants have been experiencing a myriad of challenges as they face exploitation due to their immigrant status. The proposal outlines a summary of the entire program that will offer timely legal assistance to the immigrants to help avert any incidences of exploitation in the state.
Project Abstract
The organization is seeking the DYCD grant to help in offering legal services to immigrants in New York and assist all participants in attaining lawful immigration status in the United States, such as asylum, United States citizenship, and permanent residence as well as offering other special immigration visa services. Besides this, the grant will help us offer legal counseling, legal representation, and application assistance for the immigrants. The program will also include providing other social service needs for the immigrants. The main objective is to ensure that immigrants can access legal assistance regardless of their gender, age, immigration status, and country of origin. Previous assessments have indicated that most of the immigrants have faced deportation and are in need of urgent and fee legal assistance. These individuals include asylum seekers, lawful permanent residents, domestic violence victims, refugees, and other marginalized, vulnerable individuals. If the grant is granted, our organization will work to ensure that the necessary capacity is provided to ensure rapid statewide response in addressing the urgent legal needs of the migrants. The aid also includes offering the required support to the families of the individuals affected. The organization`s office will have an expanded capacity to offer immigration attorney`s in all areas of the state to help in offering expert and free assistance to all the individuals in need. We hereby request a funding amount of $1,203,500 to help fund the entire program and engage the required staff members.
Statement of need
New York state has around three million migrants who make up around 37% of the city`s population and about 43% of the city`s workforce. The migrants play a vital role in the economy of the city. The migrants have integrated into all levels of the city`s sector are included in nearly all the job levels in the city. For instance, they make up half of the country`s physicians and surgeons, seven of ten nurses, over a quarter of all CEOs, accounts, insurance brokers as well as in the financial service sectors. However, despite the massive contribution of immigrants to the economy of New York. The immigrants still lower educational attainment and income compared to the city residents born in the United States. Some of the immigrants have become vulnerable to abuse and exploitation due to a myriad of factors such as poverty, complex laws governing immigration to the United States, lack of access to legal support services, as well as other barriers which restrict their ability to acquire permanent legal immigration into the United States. The huge immigrant population means that there is an extensive need for easily accessible legal services to the immigrant population in New York. Our program aims to offer assistance to over 10,000 migrant workers in the coming year. Our office presently has three attorneys, two paralegals, and three support staff members. We aim to expand our capacity to five attorneys to help us attain our ambitious targets.
Program Description
Our program fits well within the DYCD framework that has historically supported initiatives targeting immigrants by offering legal assistance to immigrant youth and adults. The program seeks to address and provide legal services to immigrants in New York. Under specifications from DYCD, the program activities included an assessment, immigration application assistance, legal assistance, and access services. Under assessment, our organization will assess the eligibility of every candidate for assistance based on permanent residence, unlawful immigration status, and asylum seekers. As for the immigration application assistance, our organization will offer application assistance to all the individuals that have met the eligibility criteria to acquire immigration benefits. The assistance ranges from receiving assistance with filling necessary forms and conducting any follow-up roles that are required during the application of the immigration claim. The legal assistance activity captures and sums up all the activities involved in offering legal assistance to the client, which includes preparation of all necessary documents, conducting telephone interviews with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and to provide administrative appeals and hearings. The legal assistance also includes legal representation in court for the immigrant. Under access services, our organization will undertake the relevant social services requirements of the immigrants either through direct contact or some other form of referral.
Our current cohort of Immigration lawyers
Our organization has two immigration lawyers fully committed to conducting the activities related to grant. Our lawyers have the following minimum qualifications, which include that they are both excellent standing members of the highest court in the land and can serve in any state within the United States. Besides, the attorneys have over three years of experience and have also served as under the senior attorney within that time frame as well.
Under our program, the attorneys aim to offer legal services as well as representation on a maximum of 30 cases in a month. Each attorney will make use of a universal representation model that will seek to offer services to any immigrant that might require the appropriate legal representation while also being a resident of the state. The targeted population must meet the following criteria:
- Be a resident immigrant in New York
- Come from families with the mixed status of at-least a family member being from New York.
- And be an immigrant business owner that resides in New York.
Under the program, the organization will offer the following cases and services that include asylum services, U visas, T visas, temporary protective status, extraordinary immigrant juvenile status, bond hearings, work permits, federal litigation, advanced parole, family-based immigration services, and complex naturalization.
Case referral and management
As part of the program, all attorneys will be required to maintain their capacity to respond immediately to any case involving an immigrant. Measures will involve referrals by email or phone to help and offer an immediate response. Immediate response means that we can confirm receipt of the request within an hour of receiving the request with the business hours and, if not for requests that are made outside regular operating business hours.
After receiving the referral of an immigrant case, the attorneys will offer required legal services that include intakes, direct representation, and legal screening. In the event, an attorney cannot assist with a certain case, they will be required to refer to the case to their partners.
Legal assistance in immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) detention facilities in the assigned area
Under the program, the participating attorneys will be required to offer the required legal services for all immigrants that are detained in the following ICE detention facilities in the New York greater area. The detention centers include in Western New York; there are Allegany County Jail, Buffalo Federal detention facility, and Chautauqua county jail. Others include Wayne county Jail in Finger Lakes, Albany Country correctional facility located in Capital region, and the Orange County Correctional facility located in Mid-Houston.
Relevant promotional campaigns run by the program
The program has included five promotional outreach campaigns per quarter, which are designed to create awareness of the program by the immigrant population in New York. This brings the total outreach programs to about twenty annually. The campaigns will also include rights training, which will help sensitive individuals in the community of their rights as immigrants. The locations for the workshops will be determined based on need and will be geographically distributed in the area. The organization will partner with local community groups so as to host, organize, and conduct outreach programs based on need. We will ensure that we seek the relevant approval from DOS before conducting the training and workshops in the community.
Offering law-related support to the families of deported immigrants
The organization will offer the prerequisite support to the family of undocumented immigrants who are facing court removal cases or has faced deportation. The support offered by the organization includes interpretation and translation services, preparation of immigration documents, referral, financial assistance, and planning, accompanying the immigrants to check-ins and guardianship arrangements. In the instance, the family of the immigrant does not have the ability to sustain themselves; the organization will organize and facilitate for them to partner with local non-profit organizations that can offer the necessary financial assistance.
Cooperation and coordination with other programs
The organization will corporate with other legal counsel programs in New York State to ensure that we do not engage in any duplication of efforts. The partnership and coordination with other organizations will ensure that jointly we can come up with a framework that will ensure that all immigrants can access the required legal services in the state.
Goals and objectives
- The program aims to empower the immigrant community in the state by reducing their exploitation and abuse.
- It aims to empower them by offering them legal redress on issues of rightful citizenship, immigration support services, and advocating for their rights on wages and access to education opportunities.
- It aims to assist participants in attaining lawful immigration into the United States through means such as permanent residence, asylum, as well as other immigration services.
- It also aims to address the social service needs of the immigrants
- Assist the needs that immigrants might face, such as education, housing, healthcare, and other benefits in which they qualify.