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Private attorneys agree to take cases for clients who have been screened through the intake process and either need representation in a matter that is not an area of Legal Assistance of Olmsted County's expertise, or where there is a conflict of interest. Areas of available legal assistance may include:

• Consumer/financial law

• Elder law/wills

• Employment law

• Family law

• Guardianship/conservatorship law

• Immigration law

• Landlord/tenant housing law

• Property/real estate law

Provides legal representation on immigration issues. Services include:

• Assist victims of crime, domestic violence, and human trafficking in their applications for immigration status

• Citizenship and green card applications

• Defend detained immigrants in deportation proceedings

• General immigration assistance for permanent residents applying for citizenship

• Help people apply for certain types of residencies such as U-Visa, DACA renewal, VAWA petition, and T-Visas

• Represent immigrant youth and seniors in a wide array of application types

NOTE: Services are completely confidential and staff do not report the immigration status of people who contact them for advice or services.

Provides legal representation in immigration related legal matters throughout the state of Minnesota. These may include deportation defense, family based petitions, applications for lawful permanent residency, visa processing, waivers, TPS, asylum, U Visa, T Visa, VAWA, and SIJS cases, DACA renewals, citizenship, and naturalization. ILCM does not represent tourist or student related visas, nor employment based or religious worker visas.

Provides legal representation on issues related to:

• Benefits

• Custody

• Family law matters

• Housing

• Immigration

• Orders for protection

May help with the following for victims of human trafficking:

• Expungements

• Harassment Restraining Order (HROs)

• Housing

• Order for Protection (OFPs)

• Other civil legal problems

• Public benefit issues

Free legal advice and brief services from volunteer attorneys with the Volunteer Lawyers Network. Services focus on civil issues such as:

• Debt and consumer issues

• Housing (tenant/landlord)

• Immigration

Appointments are typically brief, 15 - 30 minutes per client, and volunteers may occasionally need to cancel due to emergencies. Call the center to confirm schedules and availability.

Legal services and representation provided to victims as they interact with the various systems that may be related to sexual assault. These include the criminal justice system, law enforcement, governmental entities, social services, civil attorneys and others. An attorney and legal advocate work specifically with victim/survivors on the sometimes complicated issues that can arise as a result of sexual violence. Legal services for victims of sexual assault including:

• Applying for a protection order, known as an Order for Protection (OFP) or Harassment Restraining Orders (HRO)

• Applying for Crime Victim Reparations (reimbursement for expenses due to the violence)

• Applying for the Safe at Home Address Confidentiality Program

• Assistance Writing Victim Impact Statements

• Attending court and campus hearings

• Ending a lease due to sexual violence

• Follow up interviews with law enforcement or educational institutions

• Legal advice and representation in civil legal matters including:

• Divorce, child custody, and paternity

• Employment

• Housing (landlord/tenant disputes)

• Immigration

• Orders for Protection/Harassment Restraining Orders

• Title IX (prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program)

• Provide information about the criminal justice process

• Reporting sexual violence, including trafficking and exploitation

• Safety planning

Provides legal representation and outreach for current recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program who are eligible to renew their DACA status.

New American Welcome Centers: Provide specialized support and resources for new immigrants. Services include social services, employment referrals, and medical assistance, Refugee Hubs: Serve as one-stop shops for newcomers, providing Resettlement Network Services in partnership with the state of Minnesota's Refugee Program Office.

• Hub services are designed to help immigrants or newcomers fully integrate into American society and include resolving immediate needs, finding employment, educational guidance and coaching, free classes on how to use public transit, how to help children prepare for college, and providing low-cost legal help and status change applications for permanent residency and citizenship.

• Resettlement Network Services include Family Assisters or case managers, Immigration Specialists provide legal services, Employment Specialists help to secure and maintain employment, Family Coaches provide educational and employment goals case management, and Community Orientation provides integration services.

Free legal advice and basic services on a variety of civil issues including immigration, housing, and debt collection

Employment

• Partners with the Minnesota Department of Human Services - Refugee Assistance Program to provide assistance developing job skills and finding employment

Health

• Grant-funded through UCare to provide education regarding diabetes, child and teen check-ups, and mental health

• Partners with Minnesota Care Counseling to provide linguistically appropriate trauma counseling

• Works with the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities to provide leadership training to people with disabilities in the Somali and Latinx communities

• Works with the Minnesota Department of Health to assess Somali communities throughout southern Minnesota for suicide prevention readiness and come up with plans to increase prevention measures

Resettlement

• Assistance with health care access, legal protection, education, training for income generation skills, and other services

• Assists new arrivals with documentation paperwork and in navigating the American system

• English as a Second Language (ESL) classes are taught at Faribault site through partnership with Faribault Adult Basic Education

• Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services assists with legal issues and documentation

• Works with Rice County Social Services to connect transportation and childcare resources, and provide job search assistance

Youth and Elders

• Programming for health and socialization is provided for elders in partnership with UCare

• Provides work experiences and supported employment to older workers through the Senior Community Supported Employment Program

• Through partnerships with the Minnesota Department of Human Services and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, leadership, soft skills training, and assistance with job searching is providing to youth

Collaborates with community organizations in providing immigration legal services and advice to Minnesota's newest refugees. ILCM supports refugees and asylees from all over the world in applying for lawful permanent resident status. After refugees have been admitted and lived here as legal permanent residents, ILCM will assist them in naturalization, the process of becoming citizens.

Provides comprehensive immigration legal services in collaboration with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid

Programs geared toward helping Cambodian elders and other southeast Asians in the following areas:

• Applying for public benefits

• English instruction

• Citizenship classes, INS interviews and immigration assistance

• Healthy eating promotion which reconnects participants with the eating habits of their home countries through nutrition education, development of community gardens, and meals served three days a week from a local restaurant. Serves elders from the Cambodian, Chinese, and Karen communities.

• Physical activities and active living

• Cultural and traditional ceremonies

• Health education

• Medicare application

• Housing assistance

• Funeral assistance

• Recreational activities

• Group shopping and medical appointment transportation

• Translation

Individuals who are found to qualify for protection and relief may be eligible to receive full representation, where ILCM represents the individual in court and, if necessary, through the appeals process. The following services may be available, depending on the situation:

• Accepts calls from immigrant detainees who are in custody, providing advice and brief service to every individual

• Advice and brief service to detainees in custody

• Full representation for detained clients who qualify for asylum or other relief, and presents appeals at the Board of Immigration Appeals

Provides advice, brief services, and some full-representation available statewide on immigration issues, including naturalization, U Visas, and U Visa Adjustment of Status. Does not provide asylum, detainee assistance, and immigration court services.

Assists refugees, asylees, U or T visa holders, or Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders in adjusting status to a lawful permanent resident. Helps immigrant survivors of domestic violence and violent crimes and their qualified family members obtain legal immigration status. Also helps permanent residents apply to become US citizens and assists in replacing lost, stolen, or expiring documents.

Searchable online directory of free or low-cost nonprofit immigration legal services providers in all 50 states. Service is available only online.

Provides legal advice, advocacy, and representation to immigrants seeking help with issues related to family violence, adjustment of status, and citizenship. Services include:

• Assist victims of crime, domestic violence, and human trafficking in their applications for immigration status

• Defend detained immigrants in deportation proceedings

• Help medically vulnerable people obtain or improve their status so that they can better access medical insurance

• Help people apply for certain types of permanent residency

• Offer brief advice and limited representation at community clinics

• Provide full representation for permanent residents applying for citizenship

• Represent immigrant youth and seniors in a wide array of application types

New American Welcome Centers: Provide specialized support and resources for new immigrants. Services include social services, employment referrals, and medical assistance, Refugee Hubs: Serve as one-stop shops for newcomers, providing Resettlement Network Services in partnership with the state of Minnesota's Refugee Program Office.

• Hub services are designed to help immigrants or newcomers fully integrate into American society and include resolving immediate needs, finding employment, educational guidance and coaching, free classes on how to use public transit, how to help children prepare for college, and providing low-cost legal help and status change applications for permanent residency and citizenship.

• Resettlement Network Services include Family Assisters or case managers, Immigration Specialists provide legal services, Employment Specialists help to secure and maintain employment, Family Coaches provide educational and employment goals case management, and Community Orientation provides integration services.

New American Welcome Centers: Provide specialized support and resources for new immigrants. Services include social services, employment referrals, and medical assistance, Refugee Hubs: Serve as one-stop shops for newcomers, providing Resettlement Network Services in partnership with the state of Minnesota's Refugee Program Office.

• Hub services are designed to help immigrants or newcomers fully integrate into American society and include resolving immediate needs, finding employment, educational guidance and coaching, free classes on how to use public transit, how to help children prepare for college, and providing low-cost legal help and status change applications for permanent residency and citizenship.

• Resettlement Network Services include Family Assisters or case managers, Immigration Specialists provide legal services, Employment Specialists help to secure and maintain employment, Family Coaches provide educational and employment goals case management, and Community Orientation provides integration services.

Provides legal representation in immigration related legal matters throughout the state of Minnesota. These may include deportation defense, family based petitions, applications for lawful permanent residency, visa processing, waivers, TPS, asylum, U Visa, T Visa, VAWA, and SIJS cases, DACA renewals, citizenship, and naturalization. ILCM does not represent tourist or student related visas, nor employment based or religious worker visas.

Attorneys from the Volunteer Lawyers Network spend about 15 - 30 minutes per client providing legal advice and/or brief legal services on immigration, employment law, and other legal issues. NOTE: Persons receive free legal advice, not representation, from an attorney

Delivers free and low-cost legal services designed to ensure fair treatment in the justice system, including:

• Community outreach and education: Workshops and resources to inform individuals, refugees, immigrants, and other underserved populations about their rights and navigating the legal system

• Comprehensive criminal defense: Legal representation for individuals charged with misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors, or felonies in Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington Counties

• Expungement services: Assistance for eligible clients to seal or erase past arrests or convictions, improving access to employment, housing, and other opportunities

• Legal advice and consultation: Free or reduced-cost guidance for individuals with limited income who have legal questions

• Treatment-court representation: Legal support in mental health, substance-use, DWI, and related court cases

Assists agricultural workers with employment-related legal issues and improves the working and living conditions of agricultural workers. Cases that are generally accepted:

• Employer-provided housing concerns

• Employment discrimination and retaliation

• H-2A contract violations

• Labor trafficking

• Limited public benefits assistance

• Problems during the recruitment process

• Wage theft

• Workplace health and safety violations

Assists agricultural workers with employment-related legal issues and improves the working and living conditions of agricultural workers. Cases that are generally accepted:

• Employer-provided housing concerns

• Employment discrimination and retaliation

• H-2A contract violations

• Labor trafficking

• Limited public benefits assistance

• Problems during the recruitment process

• Wage theft

• Workplace health and safety violations