Latino Community Assn. grant funds immigration advice

Immigrants who live in the broad expanse of Central and Eastern Oregon can now find low-cost legal help for their immigration challenges. The Latino Community Association received $20,000 in June to support its role in a new partnership with Immigration Counseling Service (ICS) of Portland.

The Oregon Immigrant and Refugee Funders Collaborative awarded the grant to ICS to expand its services to Central Oregon. This makes ICS the only nonprofit legal service provider east of the Cascades.

Clients will come to LCA’s Redmond office once a month to receive advice from ICS attorneys on issues including: deportation proceedings, petitions for family members to immigrate, victims of crime in the United States and survivors of trafficking.

Some are young immigrants with DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) status who are now on shaky ground since the program was canceled in September 2017. However, DACA renewals are still being accepted.

Though LCA has partnered with private attorneys in the past to try to meet this need, “our partnership with ICS is different in that they will provide a consistent monthly clinic for the foreseeable future as long as there’s funding to support it,” said LCA’s Executive Director Brad Porterfield. “We are super grateful to the Funders Collaborative for their support and to ICS for taking the initiative.”

Attorneys from ICS began traveling to Central Oregon in December 2017 and have served at least 75 people so far.

For more information or to refer people to LCA and ICS, contact Ana Bueno at LCA’s Redmond office 541.325.6837 or email ana@latca.org . You can reach ICS at 503.221.1689 or llesage@ics-law.org