REGIONAL IMMIGRATION ASSISTANCE CENTER - COMING SOON

In September of 2014, the Office of Indigent Legal Services issued a Request for Proposal for a Regional Immigration Assistance Centers. The purpose of the Center is to support regional initiatives aimed at improving the quality of indigent legal services. Ensuring the right to effective representation of counsel is essential to establishing an efficient and effective justice system. The Legal Aid Society of Westchester County was chosen to house the Center for the following nine Hudson Valley Region Counties:

Columbia

Dutchess

Greene

Orange

Putnam

Rockland

Sullivan

Ulster

Westchester

PURPOSE

The Westchester Regional Immigration Assistance Center will ensure that providers of indigent legal services within the Hudson Valley Region have access to the training and legal support necessary to provide competent advice to all noncitizen clients as to potential immigration consequences of a criminal conviction in compliance with legal obligations established by the Supreme Court in Padilla v. Kentucky, 130 S. Ct. 1473 (2010).

GOAL

Every attorney providing representation to an indigent client needs to be an authority on the collateral consequences of an arrest for the non-citizen. Legal advice must include anticipated immigration consequences. The Regional Immigration Assistance Center will provide support to attorneys to ensure clients are given the best advice possible.