On February 25th, 2023, AABANY held its Brooklyn Pro Bono Legal Clinic at Homecrest Community Services Bensonhurst Center where dedicated volunteers came together to provide free legal services to the community. In partnership with Homecrest and other community partners, the Clinic provided an opportunity for individuals to meet with attorneys to discuss legal issues related to housing, criminal law, and immigration. The volunteers were able to offer guidance on the legal process, discuss potential legal solutions, and help clients understand their rights.
The Clinic was made possible by volunteers who generously donated their time and expertise to help those in need. These volunteers included attorneys, law students, and our community partners who worked together to make a difference in their community. The Clinic provides vital support to those who may not have the resources to access legal services, and the volunteers’ dedication to pro bono work demonstrates the importance of giving back to those in need.
Please consider joining us at our upcoming clinics:
The Pro Bono Clinic is organized by AABANY’s Pro Bono & Community Service Committee. To learn more about the Committee’s work visit here. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the dedicated volunteers who made the Brooklyn Pro Bono Clinic such a success:
On December 3, 2022, AABANY’s Pro Bono & Community Service (PBCS) Committee partnered with the VNS Health staff to hold a pro bono clinic in VNS Health’s Manhattan community center from 12:00 PM to 3:30 PM.
Overall, we met with 11 clients who had questions about topics such as immigration, housing, and divorce. With help from our many clinic attorneys and volunteers, AABANY’s PBCS attorneys were able to connect clients with AABANY’s Legal Referral and Information Service, a program that connects prospective clients from the Asian American and Pacific Islander community with qualified lawyers who are both linguistically and culturally competent.
AABANY’s PBCS intern Connor Li spoke about his experiences at Saturday’s clinic with great reverence for the work PBCS is able to do through these clinics. He said, “It’s always a pleasure to help out at the clinic. Whether it’s meeting members of the community or listening to experienced legal professionals, I always feel like I’m learning something at every point. And with the help of the amazing VNS staff, clients with urgent needs for legal advice regarding housing, immigration, and familial issues were checked in and assigned to attorneys with great expediency. We were even able to provide Cantonese and Mandarin interpreters at nearly every client meeting, though we could definitely have used the assistance of more Cantonese interpreters. I would definitely encourage more AABANY members or willing individuals from the general public who know Cantonese to come to these clinics. Your help would be appreciated!”
As with every clinic, free lunch was provided for all attorney and non-attorney volunteers by PBCS. We thank all 11 of our volunteers for coming to provide their invaluable assistance! As always, if you have any questions about upcoming clinics, please contact us at [email protected]. Thanks again for attending, and happy holidays!
Volunteer Attorneys
Interpreters & Observers
Beatrice Leong
Alexander Hwang
Francis Chin
Connor Li
Grace Pyun
Xiaoli Qin
Jackson Chin
Yuichi Hayashi
Jayashree Mitra
Yuting Xie
May Wong
Please make plans to join us as a volunteer at the next Manhattan Pro Bono Clinic on January 14, or please help us spread the word. More details here.
On November 19, AABANY’s Pro Bono & Community Services Committee and Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) joined forces to hold a pro bono legal clinic at AAFE’s One Flushing Community Center in Queens.
This Saturday’s clinic used a multitude of digital and analog resources to provide top-notch services. We creatively used a hybrid Zoom call setup to bring in immigration attorneys (Jackson Chin and Judy Lee) and maintain a non-stop stream of consultations. One group of attorneys helped a client find actionable steps forward from his complex legal status, providing him with additional resources and referrals. AAFE generously made its printer and xerox machines available, which were critical in handling the larger-than-usual volume of Spanish-speaking clients we saw on Saturday. We were able to print out Spanish-language brochures about asylum, immigration eligibility for public benefits in New York State, and pro bono referrals.
AABANY Legal Intern Daniel Kang reflected on the work he witnessed at the Clinic: “Every attorney who volunteered their time on Saturday was deeply and professionally invested in the problems facing clients. I had the opportunity to shadow and complete intake forms for consultations held by Jackson Chin and Judy Lee. It was incredible seeing Jackson and Judy drill to the legal substance of each client’s case by asking the right questions and bringing their own legal expertise to the fore. I was also heartened by the presence of Spanish-speaking volunteer interpreters who successfully broke through the language barrier between volunteer attorneys and locally based clients.”
Not many of the attorneys who attended Saturday’s clinic practice immigration law or speak Spanish. Immigration law is a complicated practice area which changes with each Presidential administration. A 30-minute legal consultation may not help those in dire need of immigration legal services, but clinics like AABANY’s may be a client’s best hope. Immigrant clients come to AABANY consultations in their attempts at acquiring information about the legal process, updates in immigration policy, how to survive in New York, and legal referrals. As usual, AABANY welcomes any and all practicing attorneys across the city to sign up for future clinics—as well as non-attorney volunteers who can speak Spanish or Chinese. Free lunch is provided to all volunteers at our clinics.
AABANY thanks everyone again for coming to volunteer at Saturday’s clinic! Please join us at our upcoming clinics:
AABANY member Tsui Yee, former co-founder and Co-Chair of AABANY’s Immigration Law Committee, has launched a YouTube Channel all about immigration law. Tsui is an immigration lawyer who represents clients in family and employment-based petitions and applications, removal (deportation) defense, asylum, and other immigration matters.
In the first video, Tsui mentions three important things to keep in mind for green card applicants. As Tsui states in the video:
Here are the basic questions to ask yourself to ensure your application does not end up in the “USCIS limbo”
Do I qualify for a green card? Try to seek legal advice on whether you qualify and then find someone who you know will correctly file your application.
Have you filled out your forms correctly? You can still get denied even if you qualify for a green card but incorrectly fill out the forms.
Does your sponsor have the means of supporting your green card application? Whether the sponsor is family-based or employer-based, your sponsor needs to meet the financial standards to support the application.
To subscribe to Tsui Yee’s channel, click here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgZMGHXWZH5Pj4MdwXbFCbg
Please join AABANY in congratulating Tsui on this new endeavor!
On April 20, Immigration Law Committee Co-Chairs Annie Wang, Poonam Gupta, and Zhixian (Jessie) Liu held a webinar titled “Immigration Changes Under the Biden Administration: A Look Back and Overview.” The co-chairs provided updates to the immigration policies under the Biden administration and compared it to the plans President Biden had outlined when he first took office.
In the webinar, the Immigration Law Committee provided updates to the status of the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 and the American Dream and Promise Act of 2021 in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and discussed how passage of the bills could affect the pathway to citizenship. The co-chairs also covered employment-based immigration changes including the withdrawal of the H-4 EAD (Employment Authorization Document) rule, the repeal of the BAHA (Buy American and Hire American) Executive Order, and the changes to the H-1B Visa Program for fiscal year 2022. Co-Chair Annie Wang discussed the national dialogue surrounding asylum and refugee resettlement, and gave an update on the status of current DACA litigation. The co-chairs concluded the webinar by providing a quick overview of the rescission of the Public Charge Rule.
The Immigration Law Committee plans to continue hosting quarterly webinars to provide the AABANY community with immigration updates under the Biden administration. To learn more about the Immigration Law Committee’s upcoming events, please contact the committee co-chairs at https://www.aabany.org/page/129.
On June 26, 2020, the Membership Committee hosted their weekly Zoom Membership Mixer, with 16 participants in attendance. The icebreaker question posed to the participants was: “What is your family’s immigration story?” Members told their stories of how and why they or their families arrived in the United States or Canada. Some families came for school, marriages, and better opportunities. Some members made the trip to North America as an adult for a different life.
The Membership Committee previously hosted Monthly Mixers at bars and various other venues, such as ballparks and the Metropolitan Opera, but due to COVID, we have moved online to offer members a weekly outlet to share their feelings, see old friends, and make new connections. Mixers start at 6:30pm on Friday and the main event ends at 7:30pm but feel free to stay on after 7:30pm for smaller breakout groups.
Membership Committee will continue to host weekly Zoom mixers until it is safe to gather together again in person.
This week, after the main mixer, a breakout group of 6 members discussed the next steps of re-opening phases in New York City.
We have been giving away door prizes at prior mixers. In order to win, you must be a member and must RSVP on the aabany.org calendar entry to get a raffle number. Non-members can join the Zoom mixer but won’t be eligible to win a prize. Mixers are not recorded, and are LIVE, so don’t miss out.
AABANY Member and immigration attorney Tsui Yee was recently quoted in an NPR story by Alina Selyukh entitled “Will Filing For Unemployment Hurt My Green Card? Legal Immigrants Are Afraid.”
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread and leave millions of people jobless, legal immigrants working and paying taxes in the US fear that applying for unemployment might jeopardize their immigration cases. Tsui noted that even though these individuals are eligible to collect unemployment, many chose not to out of fear that doing so will somehow trigger a red flag with immigration services.
The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) opposes the proposed changes to “public charge” published Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). We urge our members and affiliated bar associations to join NAPABA in submitting public comments opposing the proposed policy.
Public charge policy has roots in long-time efforts to limit the admission of ‘undesirable immigrants,’ such as Chinese in the 19th century. The proposed rule would re-define a public charge as an immigrant who would be likely to receive government benefits from an expanded list of programs, including nutrition and housing assistance programs for children. The proposed rule will make it easier to designate an applicant as a public charge, and deny their admission to the United States or reject their permanent resident application. DHS also proposes stricter guidance for weighing certain factors when reviewing visa applications, such as age, income, health, English proficiency, and employability. NAPABA is greatly concerned with how these changes will negatively impact Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants, working families, and children’s health.
The proposal has already had a chilling effect on Asian Pacific American communities. Due to reports of these proposed changes, some immigrant families—including those with eligible U.S. citizen members—have unenrolled from important public services for which they qualify. If implemented, the new public charge rules would undermine the safety, health, and security of immigrant families by denying them the support historically provided to new Americans. Asian Pacific American communities will be particularly hard hit, as over 31% of new green card recipients are from Asian and Pacific Island nations and as there is significant variation in average income amongst Asian ethnic groups.
Take charge by submitting a comment on the proposed rule before the DHS proceeds with its final rulemaking by the deadline, December 10, 2018. NAPABA will be submitting comments as an organization, but individuals are encouraged to submit unique comments here. To see available resources, please click here. For more information, contact Oriene Shin, NAPABA Policy Counsel, at 202-775-9555 or [email protected].
This Friday, July 13th, from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM, the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice will be holding a webinar for attorneys who would like to learn more and help separated parents and children.
The ABA Commission on Immigration, ProBAR, CRSJ and Children’s Immigration Law Academy (CILA) present this webinar for attorneys who wish to learn more about representing families separated by the Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. Our experts will discuss how separated families have been processed at the border, forcibly separated, prosecuted and detained, causing grave suffering to parents and children and obstacles to their legal claims. Our experts will discuss each step in the process and explain the complicated legal proceedings that apply to parents caught at the border and children who have been rendered “unaccompanied” by government action. Lawyers across the country have expressed interest in helping these families. Many of these families remain divided today despite the President’s Executive Order that allegedly ended the practice but failed to include a procedure for reuniting families unless they agree to waive all claims and accept removal. This is not due process. Join us to learn more about how to effectively represent these families and permit those who fear persecution to apply for asylum as required by law.
Thank you to Sylvia Chin for sharing it with us.
For any questions, please email Civil Rights and Social Justice Section Associate Director Paula Shapiro at [email protected]
