About PSPP
Who Are We?
The Pro Se Plus Project is a collaboration of immigration legal services providers – African Communities Together (ACT),Catholic Migration Services (CMS), Central American Legal Assistance (CALA), the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), and UnLocal – and community based organizations – Masa and Venezuelans & Immigrants Aid, Inc. (VIA) – created to address some of the legal needs of newly-arrived immigrants to New York City.
Recent migration trends have highlighted a reality our communities have felt for years: there are simply not enough immigration legal providers to meet the need for representation or even for legal information.
The Pro Se Plus Project (PSPP) provides thorough legal orientations, robust screenings, triage, and community access to pro se assistance with applications for asylum, employment authorization, immigration court motions, and other immigration-related relief for unrepresented immigrants. While full representation remains essential, PSPP works with lawyers as well as non-lawyers, volunteers, and interns with meaningful training and supervision to provide pro se assistance, fill critical gaps in services, and meet the emergent needs of our communities.
Why Was PSPP created?
PSPP was founded to address this stark reality with a community-based model, advising asylum seekers on their legal rights, assisting them in preparing and filing asylum applications in court, and empowering them to represent themselves in immigration hearings. This type of innovative, responsive approach is what our city needs to immediately meet immigrants’ urgent needs.
Our services
PSPP creates and delivers community education workshops explaining US immigration, eligibility requirements for asylum and work authorization, application and filing procedures before USCIS and immigration court, evidence packets, and preparation for interviews and court hearings.
PSPP trains community volunteers, non-profit partners, and pro bono attorneys to understand the requirements for asylum, work authorization, and more to increase capacity to assist recently arrived immigrants.
PSPP screens and triages newly arrived immigrants, provides legal advice, and directs them to community education workshops, accessible multilingual public education materials, and pro se application assistance clinics.
PSPP designs and hosts pro se clinics for recently arrived immigrants without legal representation to receive assistance in completing and filing their own asylum and work authorization applications, among other supports.
PSPP raises awareness among the recently arrived immigrant community to help people steer clear of notary fraud, scam, and being overcharged for desperately needed services. PSPP also helps people avoid adverse outcomes in immigration court such as in absentia removal orders (in one’s absence, when one does not attend their immigration court hearing), and missed deadlines.
