Help us assist low-income immigrant families
Support our efforts to provide free and low-cost legal services to low-income immigrant families in Houston. Make your contribution today
OUR GOALS
LEGAL SERVICES CAPACITY
Increase the quality and quantity of immigration legal service providers equipped to serve the Houston region’s growing immigrant population.
ACCESS TO SERVICES
Improve and streamline immigrants’ ability to access existing and high-quality, low-cost social and legal services.
COMMUNICATIONS
Be a source of timely and accurate immigration information for both stakeholder groups and potential clients of immigration service providers.
Immigration Legal Service Provider Members
Our legal service providers are the heart of our organization. We are committed to building capacity within these organizations and helping new organizations offer free and low-cost legal services to immigrants in Houston, Texas
BakerRipley
Boat People SOS
Cabrini Center for Immigrant Legal Assistance
Memorial Assistance Ministries
Chinese Community Center
Justice For All Immigrants
Tahirih Justice Center
South Texas College of Law Houston
University of Houston Law Center Immigration Clinic
YMCA International Services
Kids In Need of Defense (KIND)
Bonding Against Adversity
OCA Greater Houston
Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project
Workers Defense Project
General Membership
Stakeholders
Antena Houston
Houston Immigration Legal Services CollaborativeFREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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What is the mission of HILSC?
The vision of the Collaborative is that no Houston immigrant goes without legal assistance while seeking legal status and navigating the complexities of the U.S. immigration system. The mission of the Collaborative is to create a coordinated network of effective and efficient services to assist low-income immigrants access the information and legal representation that allows them to make choices in their own best interest.
Download the HILSC 2016-2018 Community Plan, a roadmap to amplifying the efforts of local immigration legal service providers.
How do you support organizations?
The Collaborative supports legal and social services organizations that provide high-quality services to immigrants in the Houston region. Committed to systems-level changes within our community, the Collaborative works to create tools, resources, trainings and funding opportunities for non-profit legal services providers.
How can I get involved?
The Collaborative welcomes new legal service providers, immigration service providers and stakeholders. We meet as a Collaborative quarterly and communicate through a listserv. We have active committees working on our three main goals: increasing legal services capacity, improving access to services, and communications. We also maintain a broad list of volunteer opportunities.
To learn about volunteering, click here. To join our newsletter, click here.
What makes your organizations the “good guys”?
Collaborative members are committed to establishing best-practices for their organizations and to learning from their peers in the service-provider community. They are willing to share their expertise with other Collaborative members and to support new organizations looking to start legal services programs. All Collaborative service providers are non-profit organizations committed to serving low-income immigrants by charging no more than nominal fees for their services. Collaborative members offering legal services fall into two categories: organizations with immigration attorneys on staff and organizations that are DOJ-recognized with DOJ-accredited representatives working closely with immigration attorneys. Some members are working towards DOJ-recognition and are committed to providing the highest-quality services possible. Check out our members.
Who are the “bad guys”?
Unfortunately, immigration fraud is a common problem and many immigrants fall victim to dishonest immigration consultants often called “notarios.” These consultants often charge high fees for services that are completely free, such as obtaining application forms (application forms are always free from USCIS) or being put on a waitlist (there are no waitlists). Getting “helped” by one of these consultants can have disastrous results for immigrants and their families, even leading to deportation. Get more information about immigration scams.
What does it mean to be a DOJ recognized organization?
You will see that many of our members are DOJ recognized organizations. This status is granted to qualified non-profit religious, charitable, social service, or similar organizations by the Office of Legal Access Programs (OLAP), a division of the Department of Justice. Recognition makes an organization legally authorized to provide immigration legal services with or without an immigration attorney on staff. DOJ accredited representatives are individuals at those organizations who can assist immigrants with legal cases. We require all of our members that do not have attorneys on staff to seek DOJ recognition before launching a legal services program.
Where can I get good data about immigration in the Houston region?
The Migration Policy Institute and the Center for Migration Studies are excellent sources of high-quality data about immigrant demographics and trends as well as research about changing immigration policy. The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at the University of Syracuse is the go-to source of current data about immigration enforcement, staffing, and spending. New American Economy provides accurate data about the economic impact of immigrants at the state, county, and congressional district level.
A good starting place for learning about the immigrant population in Houston is MPI’s “A Profile of Immigrants in Houston, the Nation’s Most Diverse Metropolitan Area,” which was commissioned by the Collaborative.
What are the impacts of the most recent changes in immigration policy?
We maintain resources on changes to immigration law and policy on our blog and under the Resources tab of this website.