Our Immigration Work
Since 1990, Hispanic Federation is an organization that works relentlessly to protect and advance immigrant rights. Our early efforts focused on local advocacy and collaborations with member agencies to develop citizenship campaigns. Today, Hispanic Federation has expanded its focus to become a national provider of immigrant integration and other direct services as well as a national advocate for progressive immigration reforms. Specifically, we help immigrants apply for citizenship, provide direct relief to refugees and asylees, and offer educational support for undocumented children and families, and so much more. Explore our immigration work below.
Know Your Rights!
It’s important that immigrant families and individuals know their rights when interacting with law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Our Immigration Services and Programs
The U.S. immigration system operates in a unique way that is often difficult to navigate. The legal rights and protections citizens hold are not offered to immigrants, leaving them vulnerable to severe consequences like deportation. However, finding specialized representation is difficult and expensive.
Hispanic Federation offers several legal services that help immigrant community members navigate the immigration system. We have created a portfolio of free legal and non-legal services, helping individuals take their next steps toward citizenship and lawful status. Explore our legal services:
Caminos de Esperanza
In 2021, Hispanic Federation launched Caminos de Esperanza to meet the escalating demand for legal aid as immigration courts continue to manage the ballooning backlog of immigration cases.
Through Caminos de Esperanza and a network of 12 organizations across the country, HF offers legal representation to migrant individuals and families who are applying for work authorization, asylum, TPS, and other forms of legal residency.
Caminos de Esperanza has already provided more than 4,000 legal screenings and consultations. The program has also provided direct legal representation for more than 1,000 people seeking asylum and other forms of legal residency.
If you’re a community member in need of legal services or if you want to support this program, please contact us by emailing immigration@hispanicfederation.org or calling 1-888-230-8275.
Welcoming New York
This partnership makes Hispanic Federation the lead organization to coordinate immigration legal services, and case management providers across New York State to administer legal screenings, consultations, and other wrap-around services to immigrants, with a focus on new arrivals.
Services include individual legal screenings for asylum or other relief eligibility, brief advice and counsel, and additional legal assistance as needed. We also provide pro se assistance for asylum applications, employment authorization, Temporary Protected Status applications, and more.
As part of Welcoming New York, Hispanic Federation has created a community network of Welcoming Navigators which provide place-based connections and free legal services to immigrants in New York State. Our navigators assist attorneys, Department of Justice representatives, law students, and graduates in offering initial screenings, consultations, and other legal services either at immigrant locations or designated sites.
We are committed to strengthening our capabilities and providing as much support as possible to our community members and network.
If you’re a community member interested in this program, please contact us by emailing immigration@hispanicfederation.org or calling 1-888-230-8275.
Florida’s HELLO Program
Through Florida’s HELLO (Help, Education, Legal Assistance, Listening, Outreach) program, HF conducts monthly workshops with the Orlando Center For Justice to provide immigrant community members, including newly arrived migrants, with culturally and linguistically competent information about the immigration system in America. This includes free legal guidance with trained lawyers and staff to help participants navigate this immigration system.
This service is offered in Spanish on the first Friday of each month and often at different locations throughout Florida.
If you’re a community member interested in the HELLO Program or want to support this program, please contact us calling 1-888-230-8275.
To attend the next HELLO workshop in Florida, visit our events calendar.
Protecting Immigrant Rights in North Carolina
HF’s North Carolina team conducts know-your-rights trainings for immigrant community members, provides direct legal services through its mobile immigration clinics, and delivers educational resources to residents who are on their final steps to becoming citizens.
If you’re a North Carolina community member interested in getting involved, contact Lariza Garzon by emailing lgarzon@hispanicfederation.org or calling 1-787-417-7700 Ext. 15
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Scholarships
HF offers scholarships for legal residents on their final steps toward citizenship and DREAMERs, including community members who are currently under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
DACA Scholarships
The DACA program provides qualifying immigrants protection from deportation and work permits for at least two years. Yet the fee for DACA, which is over $600 dollars, prevents many of our DREAMers from applying for these benefits. Through this scholarship, HF covers the DACA application fee for people living in New York City.
DREAMER Scholarship Fund
With the fate of the DACA program unknown, DREAMERs are in imbo seeking ways to continue living their lives as uninterrupted as possible. In response, HF offers DREAMERs support to finance their college education, focusing on three main categories identified as barriers to college graduation, tuition and meal cards. This program is offered to students attending college in New York City.
Citizenship Scholarship
With this scholarship, HF covers the cost of the citizenship application fee, which is over $700, for legal residents on their final steps toward citizenship.
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Stop Hate NYC
Regardless of race, ethnicity, or ancestry—everyone has a role to play in stopping hate and creating safer environments for everyone.
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Immigration Policy and Advocacy
The U.S. immigration system is broken and has been for decades. Only Congress can fix the problem, but partisan politics regularly gets in the way of workable and humane solutions that keep immigrant families together, provide pathways to regularize immigration status, and help U.S. communities prosper.
Since its founding in 1990, Hispanic Federation has been at the forefront of the fight for comprehensive immigration reform working with state and federal legislators, business leaders, faith, and community-based organizations to explain the urgent need and benefits of fixing a system that serves neither the immigrants nor the nation. This includes:
- Creating a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who have long called this country home, including DREAMERs.
- Expediting work authorization for newly arrived migrants, including asylum seekers, who wait in limbo for months before they are able to properly provide for themselves and their family.
- Increasing funding for the nonprofit organizations that are on the frontlines of serving immigrant communities across the country.
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Hispanic Federation + DV7: Soccer Camp for Immigrant and Latinx Youth
In partnership with Councilmember Francisco Moya and David Villa (former World cup winner in the 2016 South Africa games), the Soccer Camp for Immigrant and Latinx Youth was established in 2019 and is a soccer academy for youth living in New York City.
Hispanic Federation has been a partner of the program since its inception, working with foster care agencies, immigration organizations, schools, and other institutions to ensure the program predominantly serves unaccompanied minors, immigrant youth and other young people in marginalized communities. As of 2023, approximately 115 youth have enrolled in the program.
The soccer camp was designed and is led by David Villa’s renowned DV7 Soccer Academy and funded by a generous grant from the Office of New York City Council Member Francisco Moya. The camp is open to all Queens youth between the ages of 5 and 13 and is free of charge.
Contact Us
For more information about our immigration work, contact us below.
Immigration Hotline
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