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
Welcoming New York is a partnership between Hispanic Federation and the New York State’s Office for New Americans (ONA). As part of this partnership, Hispanic Federation is the lead organization coordinating with immigration legal service providers across New York State to provide screenings, consultations, and other legal services to immigrant community members, 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. Additional services may include 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.
Coordination with immigration legal service providers across the state is ensured to meet immigrants’ legal needs and prioritization is given to new arrivals.
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 by emailing immigration@hispanicfederation.org or 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 clinic, and delivers educational resources to residents who are on their final steps to becoming citizens.
If you’re a North Carolina community member interested getting involved, contact Lariza Garzon by emailing lgarzon@hispanicfederation.org or calling 1-787-417-7700 Ext. 15