CM Narcisse Celebrates with the 46th Council District at Community Inaugural Ceremony

Councilwoman Mercedes Narcisse Celebrates with the 46th Council District at Community Inaugural Ceremony

On the evening of Saturday, January 22, Councilwoman Mercedes Narcisse held her Community Inaugural Celebration at South Shore High School where she was ceremonially sworn-into office by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer. She was joined by hundreds of constituents and a who’s who of New York elected officials. Mercedes was joined in attendance by colleagues in government; Mayor Eric Adams, Congress Members Yvette Clarke and Hakeem Jeffries, Attorney General Tish James, NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Assemblyman Nick Perry, State Senator Roxanne Persaud, Assemblywoman Jamie Williams and a bevy of colleagues from the New York City Council. One would have assumed the night would have belonged to Mercedes, but the new Councilwoman made it clear this was a celebration that belonged to the entire 46th Council District. “Tonight is our celebration, it is in fact more your victory than mine. You were the foundation for our wins. You the people were the engine which powered me to victory. I can’t say thank you enough,” said Councilwoman Narcisse. “I am here today on this stage to make it abundantly clear that I can only be successful during my tenure in the City Council with that same tenacious support which you offered me previously. We are in this together. Together we make up the great 46th Council District, and I stand here before you to declare that your cause is my cause.’ Another theme of the night for Councilwoman Narcisse was unity, and the celebration of the diversity of the 46th Council District. “I love this district, not only because I grew up here, but because it is truly is the epitome of the gorgeous mosaic, which the late Mayor David Dinkins so eloquently described our city as. In the 46th District alone, over 25 languages are routinely spoken in this district. We have Black, white, Latin, Asian. We have Democrats and Republicans. We have diversity, and that is what made me fall in love with this district. Always remember, what unites us is far greater than what divides us. We can all achieve together. Now let's get to work.”l

Councilwoman Mercedes Narcisse being sworn-into office by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer. Photo credit: CM Narcisse Office Workers’ Compensation / continued from page 1

With the pandemic into nearly two years, many hardworking New Yorkers are still experiencing long-haul COVID19 symptoms that adversely impact their health, general wellbeing, and capability to provide for themselves and their families. If you are still suffering from the lasting effects of this horrible virus, know that there is help. Get a FREE consultation to understand your rights and help you need to file a workers’ compensation claim. Individuals with a work-related injury or illness have two years from the date of becoming injured or ill to file a workers’ compensation claim. Remember, the deadline is fast approaching for workers who contracted COVID-19 due to their employment in the early days of the pandemic, so take advantage now and call 855-768-8845 or visit www.askthelawyer.us to schedule an appointment.l

Nearly 1000 Faith leaders, Religious, and Immigrant Rights Groups Call on President Biden to Halt Inhumane Immigration Detention

Washington, DC: On January 19, 900 spiritual leaders and multiple faith-based and immigrant rights groups delivered a letter to the White House urging the Biden administration to immediately halt all efforts to expand immigrant detention. With the one-year anniversary of President Biden's inauguration approaching, the signatories — including Church World Service, Detention Watch Network, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, UCC National Collaborative on Immigration, and members of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition — expressed deep disappointment in the president for failing to keep his early promises to phase out private detention contracts. In the letter, advocates highlight two immigrant detention facilities in Pennsylvania: the reopening of Moshannon Valley Correctional Center as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center, which is almost at full capacity detaining about 500 people, and the expansion of the Berks County ICE detention center into an adult facility for women. These expansions take place as COVID-19 continues to surge across the country, underscoring the urgent need to free people from the fundamentally flawed detention system immediately. The letter signatories urge the Biden administration to reverse course and invest in communitybased alternatives to detention and restore access to asylum.

Rev. Deborah Lee, Executive Director, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, said: “One common theme in our diverse religious traditions is the value of human freedom: the right to live freely, to not face deprivation of movement and confinement. Immigration detention is not morally acceptable or necessary in any form. We know effective communitybased alternatives to detention exist. People can navigate their immigration proceedings while living at home, maintaining their employment, and receiving support from their family and wider community. We ask the administration to stand with the faith community to find ways to reduce all forms of captivity in favor of non-carceral solutions.”

Marcela Hernandez, Organizing Director of Detention Watch Network, said: “Biden’s continued actions to expand the immigration detention system despite the administration’s ongoing promises to end the use of for-profit detention and roll back ICE’s fundamentally flawed system is shameful. Detention centers represent abuse, trauma, and sometimes death. People are losing their lives to a detention system that simply does not need to exist. The Biden Administration must shut down immigration detention facilities, end detention contracts, and release people from detention immediately.”

Elissa Diaz, Advocacy Manager at Church World Service and Co-Chair of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, said: "The values of President Biden's faith tradition are common across faith traditions represented in the Interfaith Immigration Coalition: to welcome the immigrant in our midst, to love our neighbors, and to proclaim freedom for the oppressed. President Biden's decision to expand immigrant detention not only goes against these values of our faith, but also the promises he made to immigrants just one year ago. We urge the President to reverse course, return to the core callings of his faith, and put an end to his efforts to expand immigrant detention." l

IMMIGRATION

11 U.S. Citizenship Applicants Are in Limbo Because Their Immigration Files Are Locked in Caves Underground

BY WALTER EWING

Thousands of applicants for U.S. citizenship have been waiting for well over a year for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to process their applications. But the problem isn’t the usual bureaucratic red tape. In this case, thousands of paper-based immigration records (known as “A-Files”) are locked in man-made caves that USCIS says it can’t access. According to USCIS—which is responsible for processing citizenship applications—the A-Files of these citizenship applicants are stuck in the Federal Records Centers (FRCs) in Kansas City, Missouri. These facilities were built underground and are managed by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The FRCs are now difficult to access because of COVID restrictions. But this wouldn’t even be an issue if the immigration agency had transitioned to electronic records long ago. The NARA website says that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has categorized the COVID “transmission risk” at the FRCs as “high.” The FRCs were completely closed until recently. They are now open again but are operating at no more than 25 percent of normal staffing levels. USCIS cannot process anyone’s citizenship application without access to their complete A-File. Because of COVID restrictions, USCIS says that the A-Files stored in the Kansas City FRCs are not readily obtainable. As a result, USCIS is not adjudicating those citizenship applications. In fact, any immigration-related application that requires an A-File currently stored in the Kansas City FRCs is now subject to enormous processing delays. Based on reports from immigration lawyers, the affected applicants filed their citizenship applications with USCIS between March and June of 2020. Before the pandemic, citizenship applications took between 6 and 9 months to process, on average. The current delays caused by the problems at the FRCs have more than doubled those processing times. On November 17, Rep. Ted Budd (RNC) sent a letter to President Biden and the head of NARA asking that the FRCs in Kansas City be fully reopened at 100 percent staffing capacity. In the letter, Budd notes that the Kansas City FRCs provided USCIS with roughly 62,000 Afiles per month prior to the pandemic. As of mid-November, however, the FRCs were providing the agency with only 11,000 A-files per month. USCIS says that, as of January 2022, it has more than 350,000 requests for AFiles pending with NARA (only some of which are related to citizenship applications). The agency wouldn’t have this problem if not for the fact that it insists on maintaining paper files and even requires most immigration benefit applications to still be submitted on paper. It is long past time for the federal government to transition more fully to digitized records in immigration cases. Immigrants nearing the end of their long journey to U.S. citizenship—who want to fully commit to American ideals and principles—should not be shut out of the system because the government has failed to create and maintain a proper system of records.l

You may be eligible for COVID-19 Treatment

People who have tested positive for COVID-19 may be able to receive outpatient treatment to help symptoms and avoid hospitalization. Treatment works best if you begin it soon after you start feeling symptoms, so get tested right away. Monoclonal antibody treatment is a one-time IV or injection to help fight COVID-19 while your immune system produces its own antibodies. Oral antiviral pills are taken for five days and helps stop the virus and keeps it from replicating, which reduces the amount of virus in your body. There are currently two authorized pills - paxlovid and molunpiravir. Both monoclonal antibody and oral antiviral treatments can reduce your risk of becoming sick from COVID-19 and avoid hospitalization.

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Goal for 2022: Become a Paralegal

BY THE CHAMBER COALITION

Acareer as a paralegal (also known as a legal assistant) can be a wonderfully fulfilling profession. Paralegals perform legal , regulatory , and business -related research for lawyers working at their organization. Most of the time, paralegals work for law offices, non-profits, corporations' legal departments, or courts. These professionals also provide legal support services to attorneys. They assist lawyers in filing motions, memoranda, pleadings, and briefs in various court systems and accompany lawyers to see clients and go to court. Here are five great things about being a paralegal:

1. Rise in Pay Paralegal compensation has risen steadily in the past decade. As paralegals perform a broader and more complex range of tasks (paralegals even represent clients in court in certain countries and administrative tribunals), their earnings continue to rise. The average paralegal salary hovers at around $50,000 per year, but paralegals often make more through bonuses. Overtime hours can also add significant cash to a paralegal's paycheck. 2. Explosive Employment Outlook The paralegal field is one of the fastestgrowing professions on the globe. The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, predicts the employment of paralegals and legal assistants by over 25 percent, much faster than the average for all occupations. Among the factors driving this growth is client demand for cheaper, more efficient delivery of legal services. Since hourly rates charged by attorneys are typically double or triple the rates of paralegals for the same task, law firm economics mandates the increased use of paralegals to minimize costs. As a result, a paralegal career is one of the hottest non-lawyer jobs in the legal industry. 3. Easy Career Entry Unlike lawyers who must complete seven years of formal education and pass the bar exam to practice law, you can become a paralegal in as little as a few months of study.

4. Intellectual Challenge Paralegal work is intellectually challenging and involves a range of high-level skills. The most successful paralegals are problem-solvers and innovative thinkers. Paralegals must become subject matter experts in their specialty areas and master legal procedure, research, drafting, and other skills. They must stay on top of ever-changing laws and new legal trends and developments while interfacing with attorneys, opposing counsel, vendors, staff members, clients, and others. The work is varied, and each day brings new challenges.

5. Rising Prestige As paralegals perform more complex and challenging work, paralegal prestige is rising. Paralegals are no longer simply lawyer's assistants; they assume corporate management roles, leadership roles in law firms, and entrepreneurial roles in independent paralegal businesses. Over the years, paralegals have transcended the image of glorified legal secretaries to become respected legal team members.

Ready to Take the Leap? A career as a paralegal can be rewarding professionally and personally and offers a unique opportunity to help others; options vary, depending on the paralegal's practice area. Paralegals in the public interest sector help poor and disadvantaged segments of the population with legal issues ranging from protection from domestic abuse to assistance preparing wills. Ready to take the leap, the next step? Call us at 718-722-9217 or visit www.freeparalegal.org to complete your registration which includes payment.l

Need Assistance? Call 718-722-9217.