NYC Migrant Crisis
Immigration Legal Services
Project Rousseau offers full-scope, comprehensive immigration services. This includes a full screening with an attorney or Department of Justice accredited representative, to assess a family’s suitability for immigration relief
It is our policy not to host pro-se clinics, because we believe that families with a strong immigration relief claim deserve the right to quality legal representation. These services are intended to serve all communities, with the families we have screened hailing from 17 different countries. Furthering that end, we have hosted eight asylum information sessions at various public fora across the city and assisted over 300 individuals with change-of-address forms relevant to their immigration relief applications.
The scope of our legal services has greatly expanded in recent times to meet the ever-growing new arrival population in New York City.
Since December 2022 alone, we have offered comprehensive immigration evaluation to over 950 individuals, including nearly 400 students enrolled in New York City public schools.
Our full-scope legal representation extends to over 250 individuals: our caseload includes defensive and affirmative asylum applications, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status petitions, and U-Visa applications.
To meet this demand, we have partnered with four law firms and a law school and engaged over 150 attorneys and law students as volunteers to strengthen the pro-bono assistance we can offer our clients. Over 70 volunteer interpreters have also provided translation services to assist our many Spanish-, Dari-, French-, Fulani- and Russian-speaking clients.
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“While the children of asylum seekers made toy airplanes and boats in the room next door at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, their parents were beginning the complicated and often painful process of beginning to seek asylum.”
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“There’s a belief that the most important part of the journey is the physical journey that gets them to New York but the reality for these families is their journey only just begins when they get off the bus in New York,” said Andrew Heinrich, founder and executive director of Project Rousseau.”
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“The asylum seekers crisis grows bigger and bigger with each passing day in New York City. Thousands of migrants arrive in the country every day. The organization Project Rousseau has stepped up to help many of the new arrivals.”
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More than 250 migrant families were part of Dia de la Comunidad, or Community Day, an early Thanksgiving courtesy of Project Rousseau. Men, women and children so in need of so much, and dozens of volunteers are here for them, giving out homemade Thanksgiving pies, other food, clothing, books and so much love.
“The things these families need are essential services that they are entitled to and immigration and legal advice,” Andrew Heinrich, the founder and executive director of Project Rousseau, told PIX11 News.
Student Needs
Project Rousseau has taken action to address the fundamental needs of migrant families, many of who come to our city with limited resources.
Our goal has been to support each family in comprehensive ways to provide both immediate and long-term support. We have worked to address our families’ most immediate needs, distributing 1200 winter coats with the help of One Warm Coat, 300 internet hotspots alongside T-Mobile’s Project 10 million, and countless essential items such as diapers, shampoo, and deodorant.
In addition to tangible needs, we also support migrant families in setting up their new lives. We are proud of our work supporting school enrollment, particularly for students with extended gaps in their education, and obtaining NYCIDs or other government-issued photo identification.
Broadening Horizons
Project Rousseau endeavors to untap a wealth of opportunities for our students, taking full advantage of our location in New York City.
Our weekly Broadening Horizons program allows students to simultaneously explore their new hometown while improving their English language skills. Since arriving in New York City, our students have discovered many museums, become ardent fans of the New York sports teams, and been enchanted by the magic of Broadway.
We have also orchestrated many college visits for our newest students to orientate the US college process. We have visited Princeton, Columbia, and Yale together and at each campus collaborated with a student-run affinity group to allow our students to discuss college life in their native language with students who share a cultural background.
This summer, we have set up partnerships with 15 summer camps in order to provide over 50 asylum-seeking youth with extracurricular programming and activities, ranging from ceramic-making and skateboarding to karate classes, ballet lessons, and baseball coaching. Particular highlights include our partnerships with Camp Broadway (allowing three of our students to train and perform a musical ensemble in a Broadway theater), the New York Historical Society (opening up the history of the city to six students), and St John’s College (engaging four students in an educational residency program centered around discussion of classical literature). These initiatives serve a dual purpose, both offering our students fantastic opportunities outside of school and curricular work and also relieving their parents of childcare duties whilst navigating their immigration cases.
