|||| How to Access Legal Services at CARECEN

Brief Services. If you want to renew a work permit, obtain a copy of your immigration file (FOIA), petition for a family member, or apply for Temporary Protected Status or other brief services, our hours of service are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm M-F and 9:00 am to 1:00 pm Saturday.

Appointments in other cases. If you want to obtain naturalization, apply for Adjustment of Status, NACARA, LIFE, or other late amnesty, make an appointment at reception 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, M-F. To make an appointment for these services you must show the reception worker your FOIA, Approval Notice, or other documentation of eligibility.

Court cases and appeals. If you have a court case, appeal, or motion to reopen, and you speak Spanish, please attend one of our community charlas on Tuesday at 6:00 pm or Saturday at 10:00 am and speak with the attorney after the charla.

Attorney Consultations. Unfortunately, we are not able to offer telephone consultations at any time. Nor are we able to offer internet or email consultations. The best way to speak with one of our attorneys is to attend either the Tuesday or Saturday charla, and speak with the attorney afterwards. Consultation appointments are given at the attorney's discretion. Please be prepared to state the nature of your case in one or two sentences, for example, "I am afraid to return to my country because I was tortured," or "I have a prior deportation, but now I am married to a US citizen." CARECEN serves a large group of immigrants in a huge urban area. We would sincerely like to be able to give each person a leisurely consultation, but we are unable to do so with our limited resources. In order to accommodate as many people as possible, questions, consultations, orientations, and explanations are given in the context of the charla. CARECEN's attorneys spend a generous amount of time answering questions at the charla.

Private Attorneys. Perhaps you are looking for a more traditional model of attorney/client consultation, or simply want or need more personalized attention. CARECEN is unable to provide this service to you, but we are happy to refer you to the private attorneys on our referral list. Simply ask for a referral list at reception. We do understand that many people want something we are unable to offer, and we know that immigration matters can be frustrating. We ask you to understand our situation as well, and seek a resolution of your matter with one of the private attorneys. Attorneys on our list generally charge between $25-$50 for a consultation. CARECEN provides the list as a community service and cannot be responsible for the work of the private attorneys.

Notarios/Immigration Consultants. CARECEN never recommends immigration consultants or notarios. For many years, unlicensed pratitioners have been guilty of much fraud and incompetence. In every charla, our attorneys see dozens of people whose hopes to immigrate to the US have been severely damaged by the notarios. For this reason, we recommend only those attorneys on our list, and other non-governmental organizations who have attorneys on full-time staff. Some organizations with nice sounding names are in fact fronts for the notarios. Others may be well meaning organizations, but they are irresponsible if they do not have an attorney on full time staff, supervising their paralegals on-site. One of the reasons that CARECEN's attorneys are not available to do individual consultations is that the majority of their time is spent in active supervision of staff. This results in a high quality of productions and fewer mistakes. Organizations which do not have an attorney on staff do not have anyone to answer questions, and often pretend to know the answer when they in fact do not. This leads to more mistakes and is in fact malpractice or practising law without a license. Beware of all immigration consultants. In our expereince, there are no "good" notarios.

English speaking clients. Our mission leads us to serve the Central American community. Over 96% of our clients speak either Spanish, K'iche', or Q'anjob'al. Of course, when we meet clients from around the world, we understand their urgent needs for immigration assistance. Particularly in asylum or torture claims, we hear in their stories a resonance of the sufferings of Central Americans during the war years. Therefore, we are open to representing any client from around the world, but our resouces, both human and material, are really more geared to the Latin American reality. Since Spanish is the de facto official language of the office and the charla, we ask our English speaking clients, family members and others, to be patient with our reality. We have a limited number of consultations for non-Spanish speaking clients available at the reception window. If those appointments are not available, you may also speak briefly with the attorney at the end of the charla, or request a list of private attorneys, all of whom speak both English and Spanish.

Third Person consultations. For many reasons, including accuracy and efficiency, we do not provide consultations via third persons. If you have a question about your maid, your babysitter, your employee, your neighbor, your cousin, or a person you met somewhere, please don't call us and insist that we answer all your questions about that person's immigration status over the telephone. The best thing you can do for that person is to urge them to gather together any papers they think might be related to their immigration case, and come to one of the charlas given by the attorney. If you have questions about a person in another city or part of the country, it is really important for the interested party to contact competent representation in the place where they live. Often, local bar associations can provide referrals to local immigration lawyers or organizations. For social workers, and other caring professions, we encourage you to ask your client to attend one of our charlas. These are public meetings, and you are welcome to attend as well, but please let your client speak for him/herself. In the interest of building a strong attorney/client relationship, our attorneys often interview clients alone at first before inviting friends, relatives, or social workers to participate. " Unsuccessful strategies. We are often amazed at the creative strategies employed by our clients in an effort to obtain some service, respresentation, or consultation. One reason we are providing our policy in such detail is to help those creative individuals understand our situation, and understand why we are not able to respond. If you dial our extensions at random, if you follow us into the parking lot, or into the bathroom, if you pour out your heart to the security guard, or some other person, all of these strategies are not likely to produce the legal consultation you desire. Similarly, those who behave in abusive or angry ways with our reception staff or other employees will not be served. Our jobs and your life are already stressful enough without making matters more difficult. We often wish we could do more to help, but the truth is we are all limited human beings.

Detained Clients. If you, your friend, or loved one is detained by INS, or detained for a criminal matter with an INS hold, CARECEN cannot represent you. Our funding for detention cases has been cut, and we no longer have a detention attorney available. We are very concerned about detention issues and due process, particularly in the post-9/11 environment, but unfortunately, our funding sources have not yet approved new resources for this area. Should funding become available in the future, we will resume our commitment to detention issues. In the interim, we have a few general comments:

1. INS Detention. If you or your loved one are detained by INS or border patrol, if you succeed in bonding out, please come to our charla and speak to an attorney about any deportation defenses you may have. CARECEN does not handle bond-out procedures or changes of venue in cases where there is no underlying relief. If you do not have an asylum claim or a cancellation claim, there is no solution for you, and unfortunately you and/or your family member will lose lots of money if you hire an attorney on a case which has no possible relief. The best strategy is to consult with at least two attorneys before making any decision on your case.
2. Criminal Matters/INS hold. CARECEN does not represent immigrants in criminal proceedings. You may hire a private attorney, or you may be represented by a public defender. In our expereince, (and contrary to popular myth), public defenders are very good defense attorneys and often have more expereince and knowledge than private attorneys. Of course, they are often overworked. Please confide in them about your immigration status, and look for a resolution to your criminal matter which will have the least effect on your immigration status. Ofentimes, the options are very bad, and no solution is possibile. We strongly urge those who believe they are innocent to resist the considerabe pressure to plead out until you know whether or not there is an immigration consequence. If you have a doubt, don't plead until you are sure, even if you have to go to trial or spend more time in detention. Above all, build a relationship of trust with your attorney, and then trust him/her. CARECEN cannot answer any questions regarding the immigration effects of criminal convictions unless you have the record of conviction with you. You can obtain your record of conviction from the Clerk of the Court office in the court where you were convicted. Many criminal convictions have similar sounding names, but the details of the law are very different. In order to give an accurate immigration analysis, we must see the record of conviction. It is not sufficient just to tell us, we need to see the document.
3. Post-conviction relief. If you have already been convicted, the immigration judge does not re-try your criminal matter, but merely enforces the collateral consequences of your conviction. In many cases, you must look for some kind of post-conviction releif from the criminal court. Please see a private attorney to consider these issues.