T
R U S T E E S
Patricia
Fernandez-Kelly, Chair
Claire
Denis
Aline Haynes
Maria (Charo) Juega, Treasurer
Anne
Reeves
Arturo
Pizano,
Vice-Chair
Moses
Santizo, Secretary
Armando Sosa
Leonor Tapia
Stephen
Traylor, Esq.
William
Westerman
Ann Yasuhara
A D V I
S O R Y C O U N C I L
Estuardo
Arriola
Elba
Barzelatto
Ivonne
Clark
Robert
Duncan
Dana
Hughes
Ryan
Stark Lilienthal, Esq.
Douglas
S. Massey
Audrey McDonald
Aleida Rivera,
Esq.
William
Wakefield
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About Us .
. . Sobre Nosotros
The Latin
American Legal Defense and Education Fund (LALDEF)
is a non-profit organization
incorporated in August 2004,
classified as a public charity
exempt from federal income
tax under IRS section 501(c)
(3), and registered with the
New Jersey Directory of Charities
(#CH2720800).
It grew out
of a Princeton, NJ community-based
coalition known as the Latin
American Task Force which
has been helping the local
Latino community in various
ways for well over a decade.
However, the Task Force had
never raised any money nor
been incorporated.
In response to the devastating
impact on the Latino community arising out of the increasing level of immigration
enforcement in our area, some in the Task Force joined with other concerned Princeton
area residents to form a new group that could more actively address the growing
alienation faced by the Latino community.
LALDEF is the outcome of that response.
The
mission of the Latin American
Legal Defense and Education
Fund (LALDEF)
is to defend and promote civil
rights, and increase access
to education, among
Latin Americans in the Greater
Princeton area.
The Board of Trustees and
Advisory Council of LALDEF
include immigration attorneys, corporate
executives, community activists,
academics, teachers,
members of non-profit social
service agencies religious
and cultural
organizations in our community.
Most of the work done
by LALDEF, so far, has been performed by volunteers LALDEF expects to continue
to rely primarily on community volunteers, drawn from both the immigrant community
and the community at large.
LALDEF'S GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
According
to the 2006 U.S. Census
estimates 120,000 Latin
American immigrants (55%
of the Latino population),
may reside in the tri-county
region surrounding Princeton
(Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset).
Close to one in two may
be here without legal immigration
status. Others are legal
permanent residents eager
to become naturalized citizens.
Most Latino immigrant households
have at least one family
member who is without legal
status. Thus, undocumented
immigrants do not constitute
a separate group of people
but an integral part of
our immigrant communities.
Some have lived here for
more than a decade, have
raised families, bought
homes and started businesses.
Providing support and education
to immigrants is a practical
imperative consistent with
national priorities of security
and social cohesiveness.
Immigrants are frequent targets
of civil right violations
as workers, tenants, and consumers.
They are often victims of
crime which they do not report
for fear of harassment, deportation,
or ignorance of the channels
available for redress. When
immigrants are vulnerable,
communities are vulnerable
too. By strengthening the
capacity of immigrants to
act responsibly, increasing
their knowledge about institutions
and resources, we fortify
the capacity of the larger
society to thrive.
To
address this situation LALDEF
mission is two-pronged: to
advocate for more humane and
rational immigration laws,
and to increase access to
legal services and education
about the legal system among
Latinos, an unfilled gap in
the network of social services
available to this community.
The long-term objectives of LALDEF are:
- Increase
the availability of affordable
legal services and resources
to prevent
loss of legal immigration
status among Latino
immigrants,
to
help those without status
adjust their situation,
and to assist legal
permanent
resident become full-fledged
members of our society
by
acquiring U.S. citizenship.
- In conjunction with a network of social service agencies and community
based
organizations, deliver education about legal rights and
responsibilities, to
low-income Latino immigrants, and in so doing
promote good civic behavior, facilitate
the stabilization and acculturation
of immigrant families, and improve the welfare
of the entire community.
- Educate the community at large to recognize the contributions and role
of
immigrants in our society, and
the barriers and difficulties
faced by newcomers as they
struggle to integrate, and
be accepted into our society.
In the process, we expect
public opinion will become
more appreciative
of the cultural
diversity and economic contributions
that are brought by immigrants,
embrace their presence, and
make it possible to move
towards
a consensus on how to reform
the current immigration legal
system.
PROGRAMS
- The
Immigrant Legal Education
and Referral Program will
conduct
community presentations,
provide legal referral
services and advocacy.
This
program goals are to prevent
civil or human rights
violations of,
and among, Latinos by
increasing awareness and
understanding of those
rights among immigrants,
providers of social services
and government
agencies and
to provide assistance
to those who
may have been victimized.
A toll-free
HelpLine offers
assistance to
immigrant families
impacted by
the tortuous
and confusing
immigration
legalization
process, or
by law
enforcement
action in connection
with alleged
immigration
violations,
or irregular
immigration status. LALDEF
would dispatch
bilingual volunteer
responders
to witness and
document arrests,
visit detainees
at detention
centers, and provide referrals
to legal professionals
and social
service agencies.
In many cases,
families have been
deprived of their
main breadwinner
and devastated
economically and
emotionally, with
a
corresponding
ripple effect
in the community
at large.
LALDEF publicizes
this service in
the Latino community
by distributing
and conducting
public
presentations
of a "Protect
Your Rights: Do's
and Don'ts" handout
which
lists the
basic civil rights
to which non-citizens
are entitled,
warns against
committing fraud
and identity
theft, and gives basic recommendations
on
how to interact
with law enforcement
authorities. Though
immigration is
the focus, legal
referral, and
advocacy are also available
for housing, worker
rights, traffic
violations and
other issues facing
immigrants.
- Organizing community
events, educational programs
and developing
materials
to educate the public
at large to recognize
the barriers and
difficulties
faced by newcomers as
they struggle to integrate
into,
contribute
to and be accepted into
our society These programs
will
rely primarily on the
services of community
volunteers, and recognized
experts,
and through their involvement
we expect that the community
at large will become
more appreciative of
the cultural diversity
and
economic contributions
that are brought by
immigrants and embrace
their presence.
In addition, LALDEF
distributes the "Folleto
de
Informacion ",
a Spanish-language
community resource
handbook,
edited
by the Latin American
Task Force of Princeton.
Thousands of
copies of the Folleto
have been distributed
since 1989 to new Spanish-
speaking
residents of Hightstown,
Trenton, Lawrenceville
and the
Princetons to educate
Hispanic newcomers
about their rights
and
responsibilities
as neighbors, and
to help ease the
process of
integrating
these immigrants
into our communities. Newcomers
will
learn how our society
works by reading pertinent
sections when they
apply for
an apartment lease, look
for day care or medical
services,
or go about
learning English. LALDEF
plans to update and reprint
a new
edition of the Folleto
when the existing stock
runs out.
- Increasing the availability
of affordable legal
services and civic education
to low-income
Latino immigrants families
in Mercer County. LALDEF
plans to hire and
train staff, who
will be accredited
with the Bureau of
Immigration Appeals
and will work under
the supervision
of an attorney.
This program, tentatively
titled "Bienvenida" ("welcome" in
Spanish),
will work with the
populations at either
end of the immigrant
experience:
newly
arrived immigrants,
and established immigrants
who have obtained
permanent resident
status. In the case
of new immigrants,
the
Bienvenida staff
will provide resources
and assistance to
prevent loss
of immigration
status, or facilitate
the process of status
adjustment.
In
the case of legal permanent
residents, Bienvenida
will provide
English as a Second
Language (ESL) and
citizenship education
to obtain
the necessary
language skills and
knowledge base for
the successful completion
of the U.S. citizenship
test.
RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Organized a county-wide coalition of religious, civic and
business
groups to stage three marches to raise public awareness about
the need
for Immigration Reform.
- Organized three public forums addressing immigration
issues from
the sociological, economic, moral and legal perspectives, to raise
awareness of the local community of both, the history of immigration
and the
need for legislative reform, in cooperation with the
Princeton
Public Library.
- Participated in a Princeton University panel discussion
on the
documentary Farmingville to raise awareness of the conditions
of immigrant day laborers.
- Presented at a Princeton University Conference on Justice
and
Immigrants, co-sponsored by the Vera Justice Institute and the
Woodrow Wilson
School, with a focus on community policing issues.
- Advocated for municipal government resolutions regarding
local law
enforcement policies that affect Community policing and public safety
as well as close involvement
in development of local police force
non-involvement in
immigration enforcement.
Actively supported and collaborated with other state and
local
Immigrant’s rights groups.
- Participated in the presentation of a new book at Princeton
University on the Guatemalan
Diaspora.
- Made presentation on civil rights and immigration enforcement
to Guatemalan immigrants in cooperation with the Guatemalan
Consulate.
- Advocated for Latino immigrants in various local incidents
with
police, the housing authority,
the prosecutor, local employers,
and landlords.
Witnessed Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) arrests
and mediated between ICE officers and targeted immigrants.
- Communicated with and educated local and state media
organizations about immigration
issues and the impact
of
enforcement actions
on the community.
- Launched a toll-free
HelpLine to provide assistance
to
immigrant
families
impacted by the tortuous
and confusing immigration
legalization
process, or by law enforcement
action in connection
with
alleged immigration violations,
or irregular
immigration status,
and to take
reports of civil
rights abuses,
or crimes.
-
Opened an office
to serve the local
immigrant community
providing civic education,
referrals
to legal assistance
and social
services community
resources, and English classes.
- Collaborated in the organization
of a regional citizenship
workshop
sponsored by the
office of Rep. Rush Holt
(NJ-12).
-
Launched
a fund
to assist
immigrant
victims
of crime
with legal,
medical
and
transportation
expenses.
-
Organized an Immigration
Roundtable in conjunction
with the
Princeton University
Center for Migration and Development
and
the NJ League of Women
Voters, gathering a diverse
range on
opinions and representation
from the academic, business,
political, religious, and
advocacy realms.
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