The Gulf Coast Immigration Project

As a result of the hurricane, many immigrants were left to cope with lost or destroyed documents, impacting pending immigration cases. They were subject to abuse by unscrupulous employers, and unauthorized practitioners of immigration law that charged large sums of money in exchange for false hope.

Four years ago, CLINIC launched the Gulf Coast Immigration Project to protect the rights of immigrants in the areas afflicted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and to provide affordable immigration services. With the financial support of Catholic Charities USA, the project started as a collaboration between CLINIC and five Catholic immigration programs in Louisiana and Mississippi. Throughout its involvement in the project, CLINIC trained 32 staff on program management and immigration law and provided $901,875 in funding to the agencies. That funding supported hiring and training more staff, and increased program capacity. As a result of the funding and CLINIC support, the programs assisted more than 5,800 individuals with a range of immigration matters, including providing representation to detainees.

In 2010, the project was devolved to the local agencies in Baton Rouge, Biloxi, Jackson, Lafayette, and New Orleans, which continue to hire and train more staff and expand the number of services that immigrants in the area sorely need.