Immigration Justice Clinic

The Immigration Justice Clinic (“IJC”) serves indigent people living, working, or detained in the lower Hudson Valley, in the five boroughs, and occasionally New Jersey or Connecticut. Free advice and representation are offered to eligible immigrants seeking to regularize their legal status through family ties, employment, asylum, or pursuant to specific federal categories such as Violence Against Women, Special Immigrant Juveniles, Diversity Visa, Anti-Trafficking, Temporary Protected Status, the U Visa, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. All advice and representation is provided by Student Attorneys authorized by New York State and federal courts and immigration authorities to practice law while supervised by a law professor.

Since federally-funded legal services offices are not allowed to help most immigrants, this region offers few other sources of free immigration legal assistance except for the Empire Justice Center, which is located at and works closely with the IJC (www.empirejusticcenter.org). Clients are referred to the IJC by community organizations that advocate for immigrants, like Neighbors Link in Mount Kisco (www.neighborslink.org), the Hispanic Resource Center in Mamaroneck (www.hrclm.org), and the Haitian-American Cultural and Social Organization in Spring Valley. The IJC also represents immigrants facing deportation (now called “removal”) in the Immigration Courts of New York City and numerous correctional facilities.