CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Thanks to free legal clinics that have been assisting new arrivals, 1,000 migrants in Chicago have work permits — and now, those clinics are looking for more volunteers.
The clinics downtown have been helping people staying in shelters who qualify for work authorization permits. Ere Rendon, with the Resurrection Project, said that’s only about 1 in 4 people staying in shelters.
“For the limited number of new immigrants who do qualify, work authorization is a way to be able to have a better, more stable life in the U.S., and that is something that all immigrants need,” Rendon said.
Rendon told WBBM new arrivals can only get that authorization after they apply for temporary protected status.
“It provides you a work authorization, and then therefore you can get a social security number, you can get a regular driver’s license, you can apply for much more — usually better — jobs, which have benefits,” Rendon said.
The Resurrection Project is one of 20 organizations that have been coordinating the clinics on Tuesdays through Fridays since November, something the Johnson Administration plans to keep running through April.
They are looking for lawyers, law students, interpreters and other volunteers to staff them.
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