Even as President Obama’s immigration programs are held up in a court battle, New Yorkers are getting screened to see if they can apply, and large numbers are learning they might already qualify for other visas and benefits. “That by itself is game-changing, regardless of the lawsuit,” said city Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Nisha Agarwal Thursday as she visited the 13th Annual Daily News/CUNY Citizenship NOW! call-in. “Despite the injunction, we want to go forward and help families who think they might be eligible,” she said.
About 54% of the nearly 600 people who recently shared their immigration situations at a legal screening hosted by the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs event learned they will potentially qualify if a court fight ends in the administration’s favor and benefits go forward for undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and a greater number of immigrants who came to this country as kids. More striking, 40% of those screened learned they might be eligible for other types of relief, according to city officials.
The screening information is preliminary, but even if half of those identified as likely qualifying for other benefits are able to successfully secure a green card, it signals a huge potential, said Baruch College law professor and Daily News columnist Allan Wernick, who runs the Daily News/CUNY Citizenship NOW! call-in each year.
“It’s a very large number if you think of all the undocumented people that are in New York City,” said Wernick, adding that an estimated 750,000 immigrants in New York City are here illegally. “If you say 20% of them qualify for some kind of immigration benefit, if they could get legal status, that's an astounding number.”
Undocumented immigrants may qualify for little-known benefits like visas for crime victims or abandoned kids. Spouses of US citizens who entered illegally may also have options, Wernick said.
Callers to Citizenship NOW! who might benefit from Obama’s programs are signing up for a May 16 in-person CUNY screening at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Wernick hopes they might also uncover benefits that they are unaware of during the event. It’s also important for people who don’t have options right now to learn this outright, Wernick said, so that they won’t be taken advantage of by unscrupulous lawyers or people posing as attorneys who falsely promise green cards.
The week-long Daily News/CUNY Citizenship NOW! call-in, the largest program of its kind in the nation, provides free and confidential immigration and citizenship help by phone.
Since the Citizenship NOW! program began, volunteers have helped more than 141,000 callers, organizers said. During the 2015 call-in alone, more than 5,100 people have gotten assistance.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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