In the wake of the federal crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Filipino Community Center (FilCom) will host a citizenship outreach Saturday to provide legal and informational resources to all, regardless of immigration status or ethnic background.
The event, which runs from 8 a.m. to noon in Waipahu, will offer one- on-one immigration consultations, citizenship application assistance and confidential information briefings for free. While FilCom hosted a similar outreach event last August, FilCom executive director Andrea Caymo-Kauhanen said that the organization, along with its seven partners, saw a growing need for equitable and comprehensive legal services for immigrants to Hawaii.
“We were all discussing and thinking, ‘Okay there’s a shift in the national immigration landscape. We need to do something, we need to help people get through their immigration papers,’” Caymo-Kauhanen said. “We just decided to do it as soon as possible.”
Representatives from the Hawaii Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Hawaii Filipino Lawyers Association, Hawaii Workers Center, National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, Pacific Gateway Center, The Legal Clinic and the University of Hawaii Law School Refugee & Immigration Clinic will be available to consult on a client’s immigration status, provide know-your-rights work- shops and assist in referrals for certifying documents, according to Caymo-Kauhanen.
The event is also a rare opportunity for accessible immigration services, according to TLC senior staff attorney and immigration law expert Neribel Chardon. She said that normally, private attorneys could charge between $250 to $500 per hour for the services that will be available Saturday. The average price tag in defending a removal case, according to Chardon, is between $10,000 and $15,000.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Chardon said that TLC is usually only able to provide its services to Hawaii residents “whose total annual household income is no more than 200% of the current federal poverty level.” Saturday’s event, then, “is a huge exception to what we normally do,” she said.
But in the broader landscape of national immigration concerns, the outreach is more than a means of providing services, according to HCIR’s managing director Constancio Paranal III. Paranal said that the collective gathering of pro-bono services and accessible entry points into providing legal support for Hawaii’s immigrant community eliminates individual fears or hesitation about citizenship status or needs.
“I think some of the biggest concerns for Hawaii’s immigrant and migrant communities is really the uncertainty in terms of immigration policy. We don’t know what’s going to happen next,” Paranal said. “I don’t think the community was really ready for all of this, so I think getting that information as soon as possible and making it very accessible to these communities is very important.”
As an organization, HCIR acts as an intermediary between those seeking immigration services and those providing them, Paranal said. On Saturday, HCIR will do so on-site, referring clients to the appropriate service for their current needs. In addition, Paranal said HCIR’s team of community communicators will be available to assist in Tagalog, Spanish, Marshallese and Ilocano.
Paranal encourages anyone to attend and become educated on the processes and resources available to immigrants and migrant communities.
“Instead of waiting for people to come to go to our offices or the other organizations’ offices, it’s really bringing this to the community, and the goal is to be a one-stop shop for everyone,” Paranal said.
REGISTER FOR FREE OUTREACH EVENT
The free and open to all outreach event will be held at FilCom Center at 94-428 Mokuola St. in Waipahu.
Capacity is limited and attendees are encouraged to register in advance at bit.ly/hawaiioutreach Opens in a new tab.
