Old & New Immigrants: Their Rights

Unions Demand / continued from page 11 legal representation, there is a real financial and human cost for immigrants and communities across New York. Access to legal representation allows families to pursue their asylum cases, change legal status, and it ensures that no immigrant child or adult is left to fend for themselves navigating our complex immigration court system. Governor Hochul has the opportunity to demonstrate how much New York values our immigrant workers, business owners, friends, and community members by fully investing in legal services funding and passing the Access to Representation Act to keep families together and New York’s economy thriving,” said Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition.

"This is a moment for bold action. Every New Yorker deserves representation in immigration court. Increasing funding for these essential services and passing the Access to Representation Act will ensure that our immigrant neighbors have a fighting chance in a system that is heavily stacked against them. Without legal representation, immigrants are far more likely to be separated from their families and loved ones or sent to countries where their lives are in danger. Our state has been a national leader in this fight, and we can continue to pave the way by offering immigrant New Yorkers the right to legal help and a chance to seek safety, security, and family unity when faced with the terrifying prospect of detention and deportation,” said Shayna Kessler, state advocacy manager with the Vera Institute of Justice.

“Including the Access to Representation Act in this year’s budget is the single most important action New York State can take to protect immigrant communities right now - be they long-established or recently arrived in search of safety and a new home,” said Camille Mackler, the executive director of Immigrant ARC.

“The crisis of representation in immigration processes has gone on for too long, and many continue to try to navigate an opaque system designed to make them fail without access to basic legal orientation, much less a representative on their case. At the same time legal service providers, who are unable to meet the crushing needs for their services, cannot expand capacity without more resources that are guaranteed year over year. We thank Assemblymember Catalina Cruz and Senator Brad Hoylman for their continued leadership on this issue and urge the New York State Legislature and Governor to include the ARA in this year’s budget so that New York can continue to be a beacon of hope and solidarity for the rest of the country.” p which provides services in 350 locations in 22 states, told Home Health Care News that they had to decline nearly twothirds of new home-care requests due to the shortage of available aides.

Efforts are already underway in some states to mandate higher wages, such as the Fair Pay for Home Care campaign in New York and the Caregiver Stabilization Act in Minnesota. And the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in 2022 that states would have until 2025 to access $12.7 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act to strengthen home and community healthcare services for Medicaid recipients to, in part, “reduce unnecessary reliance on institutional care.”

Such policies are particularly important for immigrant workers, who are already playing an outsized role in providing care for our senior and disabled population.

In 2019, 36.5% of all home health aides in the United States were immigrants, a rate that was twice their share of the U.S. workforce overall (17.1%). This includes undocumented workers, who made up an estimated 6.9% of home health aides and 4.4% of personal care aides.

We need immigration policies that can attract and provide support for more foreign-born health aides. This will prove to be critical in securing the much-needed care of our aging population in the years to come.p

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