NEW YORK –UNS: New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) Commissioner Manuel Castro today announced that in the absence of a national strategy to support asylum seekers with their legal needs as they are admitted into the country, the City has launched the Asylum Seeker Legal Assistance Network (ASLAN), a $5 million investment to expand community capacity to provide immigration legal assistance for newly arrived asylum seekers. This is in addition to the over 65 million the city invests in legal services to support immigrant New Yorkers – the most of any municipality in the nation.
“New York City continues to be a national leader when responding to this global humanitarian crisis and supporting newly arrived migrants,” said Manuel Castro, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. “Today, I am proud to announce the network compromised of on-the-ground partners across the City that will work to continue to support our newest New Yorkers. While we wait for a national strategy, our administration will remain committed to being a city of immigrants.”
Through this network, the city will expand access to immigration legal assistance for recently arrived migrants and asylum seekers. Services will be provided at community-based locations citywide in addition to the Asylum Application Help Center at the Red Cross building in midtown Manhattan, and remotely.
The following network contracted partners have received city funding to provide a combination of orientation sessions, legal screenings, application assistance, pro se assistance clinics, self-help materials and workshops, and other services:
African Services Committee
CUNY Law
CUNY Citizenship Now!
Catholic Charities Community Services
Lutheran Social Services of New York
New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) and their subcontracted partners, collectively referred to as PSPP+
African Communities Together (ACT)
Catholic Migration Services (CMS)
Central American Legal Assistance (CALA)
Masa
Unlocal
MOIA will provide central coordination of the network’s activities and regularly meet with contracted providers to share information and best practices in response to changing federal immigration policies and practices.
As part of the network, the city is proud to announce a partnership with The City University of New York (CUNY) to support newly arrived asylum seekers by recruiting, training, supervising, and deploying students to provide asylum seekers with information sessions, screenings, and application assistance clinics designed and overseen by CUNY School of Law and CUNY Citizenship Now!. Services will be provided remotely, at CUNY School of Law, and at community-based organizations citywide serving as Asylum Seeker Resource Navigation Centers. Additionally, students and faculty from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College and the CUNY School of Medicine will collaborate to support the social and mental health needs of newly arrived asylum seekers.
