Hello community members,

Today is Giving Tuesday and the final day of our Together We Win fall campaign. Will you make a donation today to help us achieve our $50K goal so that we can continue to achieve more #UnLocalWins in 2021? 

We began our Together We Win fall campaign by highlighting UnLocal’s Covid-19 Immigrant Relief Fund, for which we raised over $75K to disperse to 162 families and individuals hit hardest by the pandemic. Because of your donations, community members received funds to pay for basic necessities such as food, utilities, and rent. You can make a donation to our Covid-19 Immigrant Relief Fund here. 

Next, we celebrated a monumental victory with our client, Patricia, who fled El Salvador after receiving death threats. In this video, UnLocal Legal Director Rebecca Press explains that the Second Circuit granted her appeal and found that it was legal error to require an asylee to be harmed before fleeing. The precedent established by this decision leads the way for other immigrant community members to achieve a similar result. 

Last month, we featured our Queer Immigrant Justice Project (QIJP). QIJP provides holistic legal services and community education to LGBTQIA+ immigrants, led by Supervising Attorney Michael Younker and Education and Outreach Coordinator Dennise Hernandez. Watch the video of Michael, Dennise, and five clients describing the project’s impact. 

Finally, today, for #GivingTuesday, we release a video about our Rapid Response Legal Collaborative (RRLC), a joint initiative between UnLocal, Make the Road New York, and NYLAG which provides legal representation and guidance for immigrants facing imminent deportation and detention. Listen to RRLC Staff Attorney Juliana Perez Calle and RRLC Paralegal Itzel Corona Aguilar explain the harsh realities confronting immigrants in detention and how UnLocal intervenes to provide emergency relief. 

Please support more #UnLocalWins by donating this Giving Tuesday and help us spread the word. This has been a challenging year, to say the least, but we are hopeful for the future and all that we can achieve together. 

In solidarity,

Terry Lawson
Executive Director, UnLocal