By Francesca Dean

Asylum seekers must navigate and overcome many barriers put in front of them, even after they arrive in the State of New York. One of the biggest barriers is grasping an understanding of how to legally live in America before they can work, have a Social Security number, or feel safe in New York.

As more and more asylum seekers flow into New York from places such as Central and South America, the need for legal assistance continues to be pressing. The city and the state are struggling to supply enough legal assistance not just to the new asylum seekers but to immigrants who came years ago.

“There is a lot of different challenges that people are going to have to navigate in addition to the existing challenges within the immigration system which is incredibly unjust,” said Murad Awawdeh, the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition. “They’re going to have a very hard journey navigating the system.”

After many asylum seekers have spent weeks traveling from their home countries to get away from the fear of poverty and gang violence, they are met with a new set of challenges ahead of them in the battle for asylum.

Change in Administration

Both the current President Joe Biden and the former President Donald Trump have greatly impacted immigration laws and how migrants interact with the system.

The xenophobic Trump was vocally critical of immigrants and sought to severely limit the influx of migrants to the United States.

In 2017, he signed the RAISE Act which aimed to “put American workers first” by slashing the number of legal immigrants let into the U.S. in half and capping refugee admissions into the U.S at 50,000 people per year.

“I remember hearing from them, that they are afraid of ICE during Trump, they were hiding,” said Daniela Cardona, a founder of the nonprofit Immigration Assistant Services, speaking about undocumented immigrants.

In his first 100 days, Biden, who took office in 2020, stopped the construction of Trump’s border wall and ended many policies driven by Trump, such as the broad restrictions on green cards.

However, Biden has not fulfilled other promises. He has yet to end for-profit immigration detention and a Trump administration policy restricting victims of gang and domestic violence from asylum.

During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden promised a clear path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants that have been paying taxes. In 2021, Biden sent an immigration bill that would place 11 million undocumented immigrants on a pathway to permanent legal status as part of his bid to modernize the immigration system. However, he has faced pushback from Congress.

Legal Challenges Ahead

New York is one of 11 sanctuary states. A sanctuary state limits their cooperation with the national government’s immigration law enforcement. These 11 states do not usually honor requests to detain undocumented immigrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.

“It’s not unheard of, there have been incidents of ICE arresting people, but it’s not as common as it would be in another state,” said Sabrina Lara.

Lara works as an Immigration Paralegal for Riis Neighbourhood Settlement, a nonprofit organization that provides comprehensive services, such as legal assistance, for people, including immigrants in Queens. As part of her job as Immigration Paralegal, Lara conducts legal screenings and assistance in casework.

She screens immigrants and migrants to see if they qualify for any type of immigration benefit. This may be an asylum, or a humanitarian visa, and the screening process enables her to offer information on what pathway would be best for them.

An asylum visa is what most migrants that come to the U.S need to obtain.

If someone is granted asylum this means they are legally allowed to remain in the country without fear of deportation under U.S immigration law.

The benefit of gaining asylum includes the opportunity to apply for public benefits such as Medicaid, a Social Security number, and the opportunity to have a work permit.

If immigrants and migrants want to lawfully apply for asylum in the U.S, they must do it within the first year of arriving.

They also must check in with ICE which is proving to be increasingly difficult. A lack of structure and services creates daily lines, sometimes forcing people to wait more than 10 hours outside the Manhattan center.

When they check in with ICE, they must voluntarily release information that they are crossing the border which will help them when they apply for asylum.

When migrants declare themselves to ICE, they are given a list of many organizations that they can call for information and pro bono lawyers.

Furthermore, many asylum seekers are fearful for their safety when making or attending their appointments with ICE because they fear deportation. However, this is not the case in New York.

In addition to checking in with ICE, it is suggested to immigrants that they begin to pay taxes as soon as they have time so that it will help with their immigration case and show that they are actively good citizens.

“They are paying taxes, but they are not getting any benefits,” said Cardona.

Even though they pay taxes, they still do not have a Social Security number and no residency which prevents them from having access to all the benefits that an American citizen has.

“Why are you illegal to work in many places […] but you can pay taxes?” said Melissa Valencia, an immigration paralegal with IAS.

When they do not have asylum seeker status, the migrants’ quality of life is affected. They end up finding it hard to have the day-to-day things that citizens of the states take for granted. It can cause a vast number of issues living in the U.S. It constricts migrants’ access to healthcare, housing, bank accounts, phone contracts and work permits.

If you apply for either asylum or a green card, you can apply for a work permit. This, however, has its own issues with work permits taking over 150 days to gain.

“For folks that don’t have status or pathways to gaining a green card […] it is a bit challenging to find a job,” said Lara. “They have to accommodate whatever job is available to them, limited to that bubble of work that is off the books, cash in hand.”

Backlog

When it comes to legal assistance specifically for immigration, asylum seekers and refugees, these are predominantly found at nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit organizations for immigrants can be funded in many ways.

“There is a mix of funding, there is the government finding, there are donations, then there are private fundings,” Lara says.

However, with the lack of funding from the government, this has made finding available and free legal assistance hard to come by. This has subsequently left a backlog of people waiting for their court dates and for legal assistance.

The backlog in cases and the difficulty finding lawyers to help these migrants is only getting worse. The city provides approximately $60 million for immigration legal services and the state provides $21 million. This funding does not meet the demand for legal assistance needed in New York, according to advocates.

“There might be a lot of services, but not enough,” said Cardona.

In New York State there are currently 180,000 pending cases in the immigration courts. All these cases are handled by 88 judges. With more and more incoming migrants, the line to gain legal status through asylum continues to grow.

Valencia has found from working as an immigration paralegal that a lot of misinformation is spread to migrants on how easy it is to gain asylum here in New York, meaning people come here without a clear idea of the struggles.

A lot of migrants are in urgent need of legal services due to fast-approaching court dates. However, it is almost impossible to get a lawyer, let alone one who does not charge fees. There is currently a huge backlog of asylum cases.

“To get an appointment at the main navigation center, the next appointment for a legal consult is March and some of them have court dates before that,” Mark Levine said, the Borough President of Manhattan. “They have many, many unmet needs, they have inadequate legal resources prepared to help them in immigration cases, the backlog right now.”

Asylum seekers are able to represent themselves; however, this is the last resort option and is not advised as they do not have an understanding of the legal process and system here or what their rights are.

“It has been hard to carry representation or even getting appointments,” said Lara

Out of all the approximately 200 people Valencia has come across in the IAS, she has only seen a couple of successful stories of gaining asylum status.

To help immigrants further with legal assistance, NYIC is planning to launch a campaign called Access to Representation. It would demand at the state level the right to counsel for all immigrants facing deportation in New York. This would be the first program in the nation that offers the right for counsel in the immigration system. This is to ensure the state has enough lawyers and legal providers to meet the demand and need that is currently being seen in New York.

“We have a lot more work ahead,” Awawdeh said.