While Congress continues to drag its feet on fixing our broken immigration system, millions of immigrant families try their best to navigate our nation’s outdated and out of touch immigration laws. That’s not easy. Without adequate legal support, immigrants and their families can often end up experiencing needless delays and losing substantial amounts of money. Last week, Hispanic Federation joined with the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights to offer a free legal screening for immigrants.
Lawyers were on hand to help participants determine whether they were eligible for existing legal immigration relief and referred participants to free and low-cost immigration services for continued case management.
“While we continue to fight for a national solution to our broken immigration system,” said HF Director of Immigration and Civic Engagement Jessica Orozco. “We need to do our best to help immigrants work through the current system.” “NMCIR is a member agency with a proven track record of providing immigrants with quality legal counsel, and we were pleased to be able to partner with them on this program, added Orozco.”
Even if one already qualifies for an immigration benefit – such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – Hispanic Federation recommends attending a screening to assess whether one qualifies for a more permanent form of relief that could potentially start a path towards citizenship. Approximately 14% of individuals screened for DACA have found that they are eligible for more permanent forms of relief!
For more information on Hispanic Federation’s immigrant services, please contact Jessica Orozco.
