CARECEN’s College Legal Services program hosts two teams of passionate attorneys, OLAP accredited representatives, and legal assistants that serve colleges and universities. Our teams provide full-scope immigration legal services, including direct representation and education and outreach services. All services are provided through partnerships with campus Dream Resource Centers and Undocumented Student Centers and are free of charge. Services are currently being provided virtually.
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Campuses Served
CARECEN’s CSU team serves CalPoly Pomona, CSU San Bernardino, CSU Los Angeles, CSU Dominguez Hills, CSU Long Beach, CSU Fullerton, CSU North Ridge and CSU Channel Islands. CARECEN’s Community College Team serves Santa Monica College, Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles Trade-Tech College, Glendale Community College, East Los Angeles College, Rio Hondo College, Mt San Antonio College, and Pasadena City College.
About half of the community colleges in California were funded to receive free legal services. To see if your school was funded, visit California Community Colleges Immigration Legal Service Providers | California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (cccco.edu). If you attend an unfunded campus, you can still receive free legal services! When booking your appointment, select “Other Community College.”
Services Offered
CARECEN offers a wide range of immigration legal services, including assistance with both simple and complex cases. We offer attorney representation for DACA renewals and initial filings, family-based immigration cases, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, U visas, T visas, self-petition through the Violence Against Women Act, Citizenship applications, and many more. If you are unsure if you qualify for an immigration benefit, we encourage you to book a general consultation with us to learn about what options may be available to you.
Family Members
In 2020, our funding expanded to provide legal services to family members of CSU students, staff and faculty. Spouses, parents, siblings, and children of CSU students, staff, and faculty can directly book an appointment with our staff.
Deportation Defense
CARECEN offers immigration court representation to CSU students, staff, faculty, and family members. If you are currently in immigration court proceedings, or previously saw an immigration judge and want to know what happened to your case, please email us at [email protected] to book your appointment.
Events
CARECEN offers interactive presentations on a variety of immigration hot topics. Follow us on IG to get the latest information on our virtual events: @carecen_la_colleges.
What to Expect Before your Appointment
After booking your appointment, you will receive a confirmation email, please read this email closely for steps you will need to take before your appointment. In your confirmation email, you will get a dropbox link to the paperwork that must be submitted to your caseworker before your appointment. Please fill out your intake and consultation contract and return it to your caseworker (contact information in confirmation email). Once your caseworker receives this information, they will send you a link to your virtual meeting. For more information on what to expect, including documents to prepare in advance, see our 5-minute appointment preparedness video: https://youtu.be/BUy77mP3ieU.
Filing Fee Assistance
CARECEN occasionally receives funding to assist with DACA filing fees. Additionally, many schools have additional resources to assist students with filing fees. Availability of filing fee assistance varies by campus. If you need filing fee assistance, please let your CARECEN caseworker know during your consultation so that they can review current options with you.
For questions regarding CARECEN’s College Legal Services, email Managing Attorney Julie Mitchell at [email protected].
