New Sanctuary Coalition
New Sanctuary Coalition’s Pro Se Legal Clinic: Remote Reviews
This election has illustrated that migrants who have come to the US in search of safety and a better life are still in for the fight of their lives. Join a movement that empowers and supports them.
Posted November 5, 2020
Background & Context
Founded in 2007, New Sanctuary Coalition (NSC) is a multi-faith immigrant-led organization that creates support systems for and empowers those navigating the immigration system. We do this by bringing together citizen volunteers and immigrants – our Friends – to achieve two primary goals: equip Friends with the knowledge they need to navigate the immigration system and lead the movement, and train and mobilize citizens and faith leaders to support and fight alongside our Friends, advocating for urgently needed changes to the system.
NSC’s weekly pro se immigration clinic works to eliminate the perception of our Friends as passive victims by empowering them with information about how they can pursue their own defense strategies even without lawyers.
Immediate Problem
We don’t have to tell you that there is a shortage of immigration attorneys in the United States. This leaves many Friends to represent themselves in court. We want to help them be in the best position they can when they face a judge. We arm them with properly done filings, affidavits, and country conditions they can present in court or at their ICE Check-in. We have hundreds of Friends who will face a judge or ICE officer over the next year.
Work & Deliverables
Specific work involves reviewing 1. intakes and providing a written consultation, 2. asylum applications, 3. affidavits, and 4. motions to reopen. Volunteers and Friends work together to create these documents but have no legal training. Therefore the advice that a remote lawyer provides is extremely important to the work we do.
We will take any amount of time - minimum 2 hours per week - but the schedule is flexible as we use a secure database to share documents and can be accessed anytime with an account.
We welcome retired and non-active attorneys.
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New Sanctuary Coalition
New Sanctuary Coalition stands in solidarity with New York's most vulnerable immigrant populations. We provide legal support for people unable to obtain representation, create empowering community spaces for New York's immigrant population, and help immigrants navigate court proceedings. NSC runs two legal clinics on Tuesday nights. One is a fully pro se clinic in which immigrants meet with non-attorneys who help them file pro se materials. Lawyers advise on available paths for immigration relief and review documents (e.g., asylum, stays of removal, motions to change of venue). The lawyers work under a limited scope agreement to provide advice only on a one time basis with each person seeking help. This general pro se clinic runs from 6-10 every Tuesday. Simultaneously, there is a clinic for pursuing special immigrant juveniles status (SIJS). In the SIJS clinic, the filings are prepared in a similar manner but lawyers make family court appearances in the final step to seek a special findings order. Lawyer volunteers could plug in to either or both. Each clinic entails an intermittent commitment (i.e. show up when you can).
New Sanctuary Coalition
New Sanctuary Coalition stands in solidarity with New York's most vulnerable immigrant populations. We provide legal support for people unable to obtain representation, create empowering community spaces for New York's immigrant population, and help immigrants navigate court proceedings. NSC runs two legal clinics on Tuesday nights. One is a fully pro se clinic in which immigrants meet with non-attorneys who help them file pro se materials. Lawyers advise on available paths for immigration relief and review documents (e.g., asylum, stays of removal, motions to change of venue). The lawyers work under a limited scope agreement to provide advice only on a one time basis with each person seeking help. This general pro se clinic runs from 6-10 every Tuesday. Simultaneously, there is a clinic for pursuing special immigrant juveniles status (SIJS). In the SIJS clinic, the filings are prepared in a similar manner but lawyers make family court appearances in the final step to seek a special findings order. Lawyer volunteers could plug in to either or both. Each clinic entails an intermittent commitment (i.e. show up when you can).