The hotline is open to all and we return every call. We connect people in need with resources all year long.
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** Year end reflections from Genia Blaser, Director of IDP’s Hotline…
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Dear friends of IDP,
After 12 years of providing Padilla advice (8 years at IDP!), this summer I transitioned to managing IDP’s hotline. From this new role, I am excited to share some of the hotline numbers that help show just how impactful our work has been. IDP’s hotline has been part of the organization since it was founded in 1997. We provide information and individualized legal advice and analysis to immigrants who have a crim-imm issue. Many of the IDP community have touched IDP’s hotline over the years as interns, legal volunteers, or attorneys reaching out to us for support on cases!
The hotline is open to all and we return every call, endeavoring to connect people in need with resources whenever we can. Most interactions are not the superficial, fifteen-minute sessions that the word “hotline” might bring to mind. Our hotline team spends a lot of time explaining how the criminal legal system is entangled with the immigration system, and how the cruelty and racism rooted in both systems creates great harm to individuals and communities.
Our goal is to empower community members by helping them to understand a complex and opaque system so they can fight for themselves and be full participants in their legal cases. Speaking with IDP is often the first time the caller has truly understood their immigration situation, understood the pathways available to them and then gotten support in taking those next steps. Informed by the questions on our hotline, we also work to create accessible trainings and resources to provide information about how the criminal and immigration systems overlap.
** Some 2023 highlights by the numbers!
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Hotline calls and cases
* 542 hotline calls from community members
* 343 callers were provided referrals and systems-explanations about criminal cases, ICE detainers, and the deportation process outside of New York
* Provided detailed, individualized legal advice and analysis to 246 individuals and/or their advocates
* Worked on cases for people from 79 countries
* Identified over 30 prior cases involving people who might benefit from the Second Circuit decision in U.S. v. Minter.We reached out to ensure they had our resources and helped those who needed counsel find high quality legal assistance.
Trainings and resources for community-members
* Our Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detainer FAQ website launched in October in English ([link removed]) and Spanish ([link removed]) . It’s been viewed over 1200 times all over the US., with the most views in New York, Washington State, Iowa, Texas and Wyoming.
* Following the Second Circuit decision benefiting many immigrants with New York drug convictions, we created community-facing resources ([link removed]) to explain the decision in English, Spanish, and Haitian Kreyol. In partnership with the Drug Policy Alliance, we filmed PSA videos as well.
* Partnering with the Surveillance Resistance Lab, we presented a two-part Know Your Rights training about ICE policing, surveillance, and raids this spring. Over 330 people registered and the training videos ([link removed]) have been viewed almost 300 times since the trainings.
Your tax-deductible donation ([link removed]) will support IDP’s hotline in 2024. Already we are planning improvements to the ways we answer questions from immigrants and their loved ones after their criminal cases are over. We’re also looking forward to continuing to collaborate with the legal service providers striving to provide high quality representation to indigent immigrants, including those with prior arrests or convictions. We need your support to ensure this work continues. ([link removed])
Donate to IDP to support our hotline work!
** Your donation ensures that IDP has the funds we need to provide these essential services to immigrants and the advocates and attorneys working to defend them. In 2024, we will continue identifying paths to relief from deportation and eligibility for citizenship for immigrants targeted by the racist criminal legal system. We’re counting on you, our community, to support this vital work.
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** Will you make a donation today to help us do more in 2024? ([link removed])
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