NCLC Online Newsletter #2

Thank you for reading this e-newsletter from the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic.  We hope to use this forum to regularly highlight the work of the Clinic so you can see how your gifts of time and money are being used.  This month, we've chosen to share about our Immigrants in Crisis Program, which helps immigrant victims of violent crime, human trafficking, and persons who were persecuted in their country of origin.  Thanks for reading, and thanks for your partnership in serving our low-income neighbors.

NCLC Volunteer Attorney Receives Shepard Award

The Randall T. Shepard Award is an esteemed honor given to Hoosier attorneys who demonstrate profound dedication to assisting the poor with their legal needs.  Volunteer Staff Attorney Ida Coleman Lamberti will accept the award at the Indiana Pro Bono Commission's Award Dinner on November 6th.

Ms. Coleman Lamberti is a leading attorney for the Clinic's Immigrants in Crisis program.  She has generously donated her time for the past several years to NCLC and assisted 314 clients in 2008 alone.  She is well-respected by all of our attorneys and beloved by her clients.  She is known as an attorney who gives tremendous attention to detail, performing quality work while taking the time to treat each client with respect and dignity.

Immigrants that are victims of serious crimes can get help at the Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic. Their suffering may include human-trafficking, sexual violence, and battery.  Often, perpetrators believe immigrants will be too afraid to call the police.  They coerce victims to stay silent by threatening to report them to immigration officials.  Even if an immigrant is a legal resident, they might feel reporting a crime will lead to deportation. Their fear is that any interaction with the police will have negative consequences.

NCLC is able to help some of these victims with a U-Visa.  The U-Visa is a special form of immigration relief designed to grant victims of crimes an additional three years in the United States.  It gives these people time to report their crimes without fear of deportation, and help authorities investigate the crime.  At the end of the three years, immigrants with U-Visas are eligible to apply for lawful permanent residency.

The Clinic accepts as many U-Visa clients as it can, but these cases require a great deal more work than some other types of Visas.  We are one of the few organizations in central Indiana that has an attorney who works with U-Visa cases.  The application process can take a year or longer and we provide this service without charge.  Our U-Visa attorney, Lisa Yankey, and paralegal, Fatima Johnson, prepare the applications alongside each client and continue to represent them until the case is decided by Immigration Services.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services only started granting U-Visas in late summer 2008.  As of October 31, 2009, NCLC attorneys have helped secure 36 U-Visas for their clients, but they still have hundreds of cases waiting to be reviewed.