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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Lois Torres, Immigration Navigator at Center for Family Life of Sunset Park
5:01:26
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Lois Torres, an Immigration Navigator at the Center for Family Life (CFL) in Sunset Park, testified about the importance of maintaining and increasing funding for immigration legal services in New York City. She highlighted CFL's decade-long work in providing essential immigration support to the Sunset Park community through programs like Action NYC and Immigration Legal Support Centers.
- CFL has screened about 1,300 individuals for immigration relief and filed 353 cases in the last two years, with 298 approvals.
- The organization has engaged thousands of participants in Know Your Rights workshops throughout Brooklyn since 2018.
- Torres emphasized the community's fear and anxiety about federal immigration policies, urging the city to maintain and increase funding for these crucial services.
Lois Torres
5:01:26
Is it working?
5:01:27
Ah, okay.
5:01:28
Good afternoon.
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My name is Lois Torres and for the past decade I am an immigration navigator at the Center for Family Life of Sunset Park.
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CFL was one of the original grantees of Action NYC in 2015 when we piloted the program to provide a broad range of immigration legal services to our community.
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Since then the program, now known as the Immigration Legal Support Centers, has remained a trusted, essential, and highly valued resource for Sunset Park residents.
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The vast majority of whom are immigrant families.
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Every year, CFL provides immigration legal services to hundreds of clients including completion of legal screenings and assistance in the preparation of applications.
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In the last two years, Moya's funding has enabled CFL in partnership with Lutheran Social Services of New York to screen about 1,300 individuals for immigration relief and to file 353 cases of which 900 I'm I'm I'm sorry.
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Of which 298 were approved.
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Since 2018, our services have also included Moya funded outreach initiatives including Know Your Rights workshops, which have engaged thousands of participants throughout Brooklyn.
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CFL is a neighborhood based social service organization and an anchor in our community.
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We have been the main provider of integrated social and human services in the low income community of Sunset Park for over forty five years serving more than 15,000 children and adults annually.
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We are grateful for the decades long collaboration and support CFL has enjoyed with the mayor's office of immigration affairs.
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And we appreciate the leadership and com of commissioner Castro.
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Sunset Park residents are fearful and anxious about the current rhetoric and direction of the federal government on immigration.
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At CFL, we shudder at the idea that funding for key services could be imperiled, and we beseech the city to not only maintain funding, but to increase it.
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Please know that your support is not just a funding decision, it's a commitment to the stability, well-being, and the prosperity of our community.
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Thank you very much for this opportunity.