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The Immigrant Justice Program protects low-income, non-English-speaking, Latino residents and immigrants of other national origins from exploitation.
The program focuses on the following issues:
1) Providing individual legal assistance to:
- Aid victims of family abuse, sexual assault, human trafficking and gender based violence;
- Enforce rights to habitable housing and prevent discrimination or eviction
- Prevent or overcome unfair acts or business practices
- Ensure accessibility of public services; and
- Stabilize the immigration status of clients.
2) Educating community service agencies concerning the legal rights of immigrants and assisting those agencies in serving immigrants.
3) Educating immigrants regarding their rights in family, housing, consumer and public benefits law.
4) Participating in systemic advocacy against discriminatory legislation and practices that harm immigrants and promoting the rights and welfare of immigrants and immigrant communities.
Case work
Family law
Housing law
- Ensuring minimal habitability standards
- Preventing discrimination
- Defending evictions in rental housing
Consumer law
- Preventing fraud, unfair and deceptive trade practices and exploitation and enforcing warranty rights in consumer transactions, especially those involving mobile homes and automobiles
- Predatory lending
- Foreclosure defense, preservation of home equity and home ownership
Public benefits
- Ensuring accessibility to public benefits such as Medicaid, Food Stamps, SSI, and Work First Family Assistance
- Ensuring proper determination of eligibility for public benefits
Immigration
- Immigration assistance for victims of domestic violence
- VAWA petitions
- VAWA cancellation of removal
- U and T visas for victims of trafficking and violent crimes
- Gender-based asylum claims
- Affirmative and defensive asylum claims
- NACARA
- Temporary Protected Status applications
- Limited removal defense
- Cancellation of removal
There are no citizenship or immigration status requirements to participate in this program. The program provides individual representation for immigration cases in Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln, McDowell, Mecklenburg, Mitchell, Stanly, Union, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancy counties. For all other case types, the program provides individual representation in Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, and Union counties with some limited assistance in the other counties.
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