Q&A
Outreach efforts and coordination with schools for immigrant youth services
1:49:33
·
6 min
Council Member Alexa Avilés questioned MOIA representatives about outreach efforts and coordination with schools for immigrant youth services. Key points included:
- MOIA continues to engage with the Department of Education (DOE) to ensure information about immigration legal services is made available to youth.
- The Action NYC in Schools program is being phased out, but a new procurement for MOIA Immigration Legal Support Centers aims to ensure legal service providers partner with local schools.
- MOIA's engagement with DOE includes standing meetings and case-by-case collaborations, but there is no regular, direct communication between MOIA and DOE.
- Concerns were raised about how the phasing out of Action NYC could disrupt legal supports for minors, including those currently in immigration court.
- MOIA is working with current contractors to address ongoing cases, but no additional funding is being provided for this transition.
- The discussion highlighted potential gaps in school-based outreach and services for immigrant youth as programs transition.
Alexa Avilés
1:49:33
Great.
1:49:34
We'd like to know where where they were triaged to if they're if you were unable to to assist them.
1:49:43
In terms of with the phasing out of action and why see by the end of this year and the replacement programming not intended to have a physical presence in schools.
1:49:52
Are there any plans by the administration to engage with school age students eligible for special immigrant juvenile status or other immigration statuses and connect them to legal service providers.
Tom Tortorici
1:50:06
Thank you.
1:50:08
Moi continues to engage with our partners at DOE.
1:50:11
In particular, the team that worked on and works to implement the project open arms plan to ensure at minimum that information about immigration legal services available through the city and and other sources is made available to to youth.
1:50:31
For the purposes of action NYC in schools, and as you noted, it's wind down.
1:50:37
The new we can't talk much about the new procurement in the Moi immigration legal support centers.
1:50:42
But it can say that it's intended to ensure that legal service providers are partnering with school locations in their neighborhood to ensure a closer connection and also a more widespread industry distributed set of connections between local institutions such as schools and immigration legal service providers that are community based.
1:51:06
In the in this procurement up to 25 awards will be made for immigration legal service contracts.
1:51:17
And virtually all of those contractors could partner, and we would encourage them to partner with their local schools to provide know your rights train know your rights sessions and connections to immigration legal screenings and assistance.
Alexa Avilés
1:51:34
So in terms of the DOE collaboration, what does that look like exactly?
Tom Tortorici
1:51:42
With action advisory in schools, there's a close multi year partnership that has existed in which that team holds no right sessions and legal clinics at in schools with high immigrant youth populations throughout the city.
1:52:01
With respect to Moi and its communication, there are standing meetings in which both Moi and and New York City public schools or DOE are present, some of these interagency groups.
1:52:13
However, I am not a participant in a standing call with DOE.
1:52:18
Our engagement is typically on a case by case basis, and the Moia policy team also engages closely.
Alexa Avilés
1:52:29
And so are there concerns with how the phasing out of action YC could disrupt the legal supports for minors, including those in immigration court currently.
Tom Tortorici
1:52:45
Concerns have been expressed and addressed through formal responses by Moia in the city in the form of question and answer, documents published as addenda to the RFPs.
1:53:02
As well as responses public responses to the protest letters that were issued.
1:53:09
And so some of the responses are there.
1:53:13
With respect to ongoing matters, immigration legal service contractors are responsible for seeing the case through the completion.
1:53:24
And Moi has engaged with current contractors to request a breakdown of the number of cases that they anticipate may be open beyond December 31st, which is when the current contracts will close.
1:53:40
There will not likely be a large number of removal defense or SAGE cases to be wound down under Action NYC because Action NYC providers mostly deal with straightforward cases.
1:53:55
The large number of removal defense and SAGE are handled by IOI and the eye care programs.
Alexa Avilés
1:54:03
It's interesting that you say that because that providers are definitely saying the opposite.
1:54:09
That it is not just simply straightforward cases that they have a good number of of substantive cases.
1:54:18
And in fact, something like SAGE is a several part process.
1:54:23
And we are in a place where this program is winding down with no transitionary period to higher up and figure out anything else.
1:54:34
So I'm not sure how you're reconciling these these issues.
Tom Tortorici
1:54:41
We'll continue to work with our existing contractors to identify means to ensure that they can continue to provide assistance and representation in existing in cases rather than withdraw representation from those cases.
Alexa Avilés
1:54:59
And how will you ensure that if you're if you're changing the model?
1:55:07
How do you ensure that there's gonna be continuity there?
1:55:11
Are you adding additional funding to make sure those cases are gonna be held?
Tom Tortorici
1:55:16
No additional funding will be added if a current contractor is awarded a contract under the new procurement, we may work out some system to provide credit of some sort for cases that remain open.
1:55:34
Those discussions are internal, and we do not have a policy to apply at this time.
1:55:43
It also should be said that a number of the immigration legal service providers contracted with the city are contracted to provide services under multiple contracts and contract types.
1:55:55
So internal conversations and conversations with those multi contract holders could also provide another potential solution.