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Safe Passage Project

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Safe Passage Project Corporation is a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit immigration legal services organization that provides free lawyers to refugee and immigrant children in the New York City-area who face deportation[1] back to life-threatening situations, despite their strong legal claim to stay in the US.

Mission

Safe Passage Project's mission is to ensure that every child in New York who is eligible for substantive immigration relief receives high quality legal representation. We believe no child should face the immigration process alone.

Work

Safe Passage Project defends the legal right of immigrant children to apply for protection. Embarking alone on a long and dangerous journey to the United States, these children arrive seeking safety, fleeing gang violence and recruitment, parental abuse and neglect, sexual harassment and assault, and extreme poverty. In 2017, the federal government reported over 40,000 immigrant children seeking entry to the United States. Closer to home, the NYC Immigration Court has more than 15,000 children on its docket.

Safe Passage Project serves immigrant children in New York City and Long Island under the age of 21. The team of Safe Passage Project attorneys stands up for these children by standing with them in immigration court, taking on their cases, and fighting for their legal right to apply for protections under existing U.S. law. These children have a legal right to be heard and to have a fair process to determine if they may remain permanently in the United States. To strengthen capacity to provide high quality legal assistance to all immigrant children, Safe Passage Project recruits, trains, and mentors pro bono attorneys.

As of 2019, Safe Passage Project is providing more than 800 immigrant children with full free legal representation, and wins their cases more than 90% of the time.

History

Safe Passage Project was founded by its first executive director, Professor Lenni Benson[2] in 2006. In May 2013 Safe Passage Project was incorporated in the State of New York as a section 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization. In 2016, the board named Rich Leimsider as the first paid Executive Director.

Accomplishments

Safe Passage Project has assisted more than 1,500 children by securing pro bono representation and mentoring those attorneys, and has helped hundreds more through screening clinics and know your rights presentations. Safe Passage Project mentored a corps of more than 400 attorneys working in teams with law student volunteers. Safe Passage Project has also received awards including the 2008 New York State Bar Association outstanding pro bono project, and the 2013 American Immigration Lawyers Association Pro Bono Hero award.[3]

References

  1. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/nyregion/immigration-child-migrant-surge-in-New-York-City.html?_r=0
  2. ^ http://www.nyls.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/faculty_profiles/lenni_b_benson/
  3. ^ AILA Announces Fall 2013 Pro Bono Heroes Honorees, American Immigration Lawyers Association, Retrieved 10 June 2015
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