ASC: News & Media

ASC Rallies with Fellow Advocates Across the Nation

"Martin Luther King's dream is an important landmark in the struggle for justice and human dignity, nationally and internationally. Under no circumstances will we allow the hard-won gains to be rolled back. That is why we are standing here to defend DACA and DAPA and to call on the Supreme Court to take on the case immediately," said African Services Committee's policy advocate, Bakary Tandia, at an Action Week gathering recently organized by The New York Immigration Coalition to call on the U.S Supreme Court to take up the case on immigration relief.

WNYC & Harper’s Feature ASC’s Work to Help Trafficking Victim

Thank you to WNYC, Harper's Magazine and NPR's Alexandra Starr for revealing the horrors of human trafficking in "Trafficked to Play, Then Forgotten." The story, which reveals how the demand for college basketball talent has led to human trafficking in countries like Nigeria, was also heard on NPR All Things Considered and The Brian Lehrer Show, with the print version "American Hustle: How elite youth basketball exploits African athletes" by Alexandra Starr appearing in Harper's Magazine April edition (click here to read the full story).

African Services' dedicated legal team, led by ASC Supervising Attorney Kate Webster along with ASC staff attorney Jessica Greenberg, worked tirelessly to help secure a bright future for Alley Ene.

African Services, Partners Hold Legal Clinic on Ebola-Related Temporary Protected Status

On May 2nd, 2015 African Services Committee's legal team partnered with the United States Sierra Leonean Association, the City Bar Justice Center, volunteer attorneys from around the city, Staten Island Liberian Community Association, and the Guinean Association of Staten Island to conduct the second free Ebola-related temporary protected status (TPS) legal clinic for nationals of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The clinic took place at the United States Sierra Leonean Association in Park Hill, Staten Island.

Volunteer attorneys explained what TPS grants, helped attendees complete the TPS application, explained fees and the fee waiver process, work permit application and answered questions.

More than two dozen attendees received free legal assistance.

TPS is a temporary status for nationals of designated countries, usually those that have experienced a conflict, natural disaster, or some other extraordinary event. TPS gives these nationals a safe haven from being legally compelled to return to their country, while their country experiences one of these extreme events. Haiti was designated as eligible for TPS following the earthquake in 2010.

Spotlight on ASC's Amazing ESL Instructors

Comment dites-vous "incroyable" en Anglais? ASC's ESL instructors, that's how.

Every Tuesday and Thursday evening when most of African Service's staff are heading home for the day, ASC's dedicated English as a Second language, ESL/ ESOL, teachers begin their labor of love: Helping immigrants develop the language and literacy skills they need to interact, engage and build opportunity for themselves and their families.

Lauded as a model for community-based ESOL programs, ASC is proud to provide an exemplary program flexible to the needs of students of all nationalities, languages and academic backgrounds. Staff includes TESOL Coordinator Amy Kaiman, and volunteers Jonathan Parker, Ryah Parker, Sanae Nakayama, Ayesha Rehman, Kethan Takkellapati Rao, and Devon Golaszewski.

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News and Updates

Sessions Closes Major Path for Asylum Seekers

ICLC Attorney Featured In The New York Times

“The threats from her boyfriend came daily, fear having no respite, Blanca said. If she were to leave him, he told her from his jail cell, he would torture her, cut her into pieces and leave her to die. He was a member of the 18th Street gang in Honduras, and they did these sorts of things. She tried to resist. Then he threw her against a wall when she visited him in jail, the police nowhere to be found. When his fellow gang member later raped and impregnated her, and then another threatened to kill her, she finally fled to the United States in 2013.”

- as reported here in the New York Times, ASC's Immigrant Community Law Center (ICLC) is representing Blanca, whose domestic violence and gang based-claim for asylum is now in jeopardy because of a decision Attorney General Sessions issued, which strips protection from those who need it most -- asylum seekers. Read the full New York Times Story here.

‘Public Charge’ Proposed Rule Devastating to Immigrants & Families

Threatens to Imperil Public Health Initiatives

New York, New York 10/10/2018 — African Services Committee condemns in the strongest possible terms the administration’s proposed revision to the “public charge” rule, and stands in solidarity with immigrant families and their allies across the country against any expansion of the “public charge” provisions.

When applying for permanent residency or “green card,” U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) must determine whether an immigrant is likely to become a public charge. The administration is proposing to dramatically expand the types of public benefits which USCIS may consider in its determination regarding whether someone is likely to become a public charge and therefore ineligible for permanent residency.