Not sure how?
Let us offer some recommendations that come to us courtesy of Dan Gashler. Thank you, Dan!
The first three are direct support groups. The next three are legal aid services. The last three are advocacy organizations. There is such a tremendous need for legal assistance—far greater than what’s available. The advocacy organizations that are super on the ball. These groups are nimble. They bear so much weight and they all need money. Pro-bono hours, language assistance and general volunteering are also welcome.
DIRECT SUPPORT
1. Justice for Migrant Families of Western New York:
https://www.justiceformigrantfamilies.org/
They do a tremendous amount of direct support for immigrant communities in Buffalo. They also offer direct support to people detained in the Batavia Federal Detention Center — where immigrants arrested in our area (usually by Dumond’s henchmen) get sent. If our local police participate in Trump’s promised mass deportation plans, most people will likely be funnelled through Batavia before deportation. JFMF works to provide detained people with pro-bono legal assistance, commissary money and release support (a place to stay, money and food). Right now they could really use money for operating expenses, commissary donations (ICE does not provide sufficient calories for detainees; overpriced chips and cookies from the commissary are often life saving for these people), language support (literally people from all over the world detained there) and I assume if there were attorneys in our area who wanted to offer pro-bono services, they would be grateful. I volunteer on a hotline for people in Batavia that they run—during my two hour shift each week I get more calls than I’m able to answer.
2. The Otsego Refugee Resettlement Coalition:
https://refugeotsego.org/
They’ve sponsored quite a few refugees over the last two years through the Welcome Corps program. The Welcome Corps initiative was designed to be “Trump Proof,” but I think no one in 2023 could have anticipated Trump would have control of all branches of government in 2025. They are all volunteer run and have a solid pipeline of refugees that they will sponsor in Oneonta as long as the doors for refugees remain open.
3. Open Catskills (formerly Delaware County Citizens for Refugee Support) https://delcocrs.org/
We sponsor and offer direct support to immigrants in Delaware County. We have sponsored and helped asylum seekers and refugees establish lives in Delaware County. We need money in particular for ongoing costs related to the education through the Welcome Corps program of two refugee women from Somalia who are studying Nursing at SUNY Delhi. Mina Takahashi, Esther Lee, Sangeeta Pratap and I are the directors of the group.
LEGAL AID
4. Hiscock Legal Aid:
https://www.hlalaw.org/
They’re in Syracuse but also cover our area. They offer a number of legal services to immigrants, including pro-bono services. They always need donations to continue their work. They’ve provided some advice and help to us, a lot more to the Otsego Refugee group.
5. The Center of Utica: https://www.thecenterutica.org/
They have such a broad portfolio of work they do. They’re mainly focused on refugee resettlement, but their workforce development offices have given us a lot of free help with Boris and Mariia as they’re working to recertify as doctors in the United States. A lot of their money comes from federal grants which will probably dry up over the next four years.
6. Journey’s End: https://www.jersbuffalo.org/immigration-legal-services
They’re in Binghamton and Buffalo and service our area. They help a lot with basic legal work, which can sometimes be overwhelming to people who speak little English and aren’t familiar with circuitous, nonsensical bureaucracies. In Binghamton they’re in the office of the American Civic Association, which offers direct support to refugees. I haven’t worked with ACA since 2017, though — and back then it was mostly Krisy and Sarah Outterson Murphy coordinating that effort. (americancivic.com)
ADVOCACY (and legal) WORK
7. New York Immigration Coalition:
https://www.nyic.org/
They do a lot to lobby for more humane immigration laws in Albany. They also are willing to advise local organizations — Kayla Kelechian and Cassandra Bocanegra are extremely responsive. We’ve participated in demonstrations in Albany with them. If we could get momentum for a sanctuary policy locally, they would be more than willing to offer their expertise.
8. RFK Human Rights:
https://rfkhumanrights.org/
(RFK Sr. not Jr.)
We’ve worked a lot with Sarah Gillman, who heads up their work on immigrant advocacy. Sarah and her team have offered rapid legal aid to some of the most egregious abuses of Trump 1.0 (like the Cameroonians in Louisiana who were tortured, forced to sign their own deportation orders with their tongues, wrapped in blankets then deported). They also worked with the Cameroonian women who were given hysterectomies without their consent while detained in Georgia. Sarah’s an excellent big picture thinker, also always ready to give advice.
9. Asylum Seekers Advocacy Project:
https://www.asylumadvocacy.org/
Sarah Gillman just introduced me to this organization a couple weeks ago. They do advocacy as well as direct legal support. They’ve recognized that the vast majority of immigrants will never have a lawyer, so have worked to fill the gap by offering quick legal advice. I asked them an incredibly detailed question last week, and got an incredibly detailed answer back in two days. They’re amazing and really helping to fill a need.
AND…
I’d like to add a final organization that isn’t in our area, but is in my opinion, one of the best pro-bono immigration legal services out there:
10. ISLA Immigration of New Orleans:
https://www.islaimmigration.org/
Jessica Gutierrez was instrumental in helping the Russian asylum seekers now in our community get out. She’s continued to work with these people long since they’ve been out. She and her team are amazing and always need donations. They’re also smart, competent lawyers who fight hard for fights that seem unwinnable (inspiration for all of us over the next four years).
— Dan Gashler