By Selen Ozturk, American Community Media
As immigration crackdowns continue nationwide, California is expanding access to legal aid through Find Your Ally, the first state-funded program of its kind in the nation.
Through Find Your Ally, all students, staff and faculty in California’s 116 community colleges can access free immigration legal aid, regardless of income, enrollment status or program type.
California community colleges serve over 2.1 million students, making it the largest higher education system in the United States. An estimated 50,000 to 70,000 of these students are undocumented, according to California Dream Act and in-state tuition application data.
Help through Find Your Ally
Services offered through Find Your Ally include in-person and online consultations, help with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) renewal and filing fees, naturalization assistance, advance parole applications, family petitions, guidance for mixed-status households navigating changing immigration laws and help in attending or funding immigration-related appointments like doctor’s visits.
Funded entirely by the state at about $10 million annually, the program remains unaffected by federal government shutdowns or California’s budget deficit.
Program access continues even after a student or staff member leaves the community college system, with all case information protected under attorney-client privilege.
For potential applicants hesitating to share their information with the state, “We do not ask for a lot of information. Most of it is contact information,” Alonso Garcia, senior manager of equity at the Foundation for California Community Colleges, explained. “There are a number of firewalls, and we scrub the system within 48 hours of scheduling their consultation. All of the information funneled through Find Your Ally goes directly to the legal service providers. We at the state level do not get to see any of that information. It’s 100% confidential and secure and private.”
Since launching in 2019, Find Your Ally has served more than 30,000 students and nearly doubled its previous yearly average.
