New York Governor Cathy Hochul announced a $3 million allocation for legal aid for thousands of immigrants, mostly Venezuelans, who have arrived in the city in recent months.
Funding for the next three years will be administered by the state’s Office of New Americans (ONA), which will immediately distribute the first three million to Catholic Charities Community Services, New York Legal Assistance Groups (NYLAG) and Response Allies. , who provide assistance to immigrants.
These three organizations, which already operate within ONA’s existing network of non-profit organizations, have been present since the beginning of the arrival of immigrants, providing and coordinating legal services.
These resources will help more immigrants more quickly process their asylum applications and other matters such as change of address and courts for their cases; Assistance in defending your Employment Authorization Document (EAD) and deportation case, the governor said in a statement.
Hochul said, “New York has always been a beacon of hope, welcoming newly arrived immigrants with the promise of opportunity.”
Currently, ONA, which operates under the State Department, provides $13 million in funding annually to nongovernmental organizations to provide free legal aid to immigrants. The statement also said that in 2021, more than 28,000 immigrants were helped through its legal programs and assistance was provided in more than 200 languages.
According to Mayor Eric Adams, more than 27,000 immigrants have arrived in the city since last May, many of them families with children. Most deported from the Venezuelan state of Texas, many are now in public shelters or hotels, waiting while their asylum requests are processed in the US.
Adams announced today that eight sites will be opened in the city’s five boroughs to provide a variety of services to these immigrants, including legal and health aid and school enrollment, and that they will be added to the site that opened a few months ago. Manhattan, which already serves about 7,000 people.
