If you have a family member or friend who has been arrested by Immigration officials in either Vermont or N.E. New York, we will be glad to talk with you. The conversation will be held in confidence.
With initial funding from the Vermont Bar Foundation, Vermont Immigration and Asylum Advocates has provided legal assistance to those immigrants held by the Department of Homeland Security in Vermont for over 17 years and in Plattsburgh, N.Y. since 2006. Now all immigrants arrested by immigration enforcement in Vermont are now held for less than 72 hours in VT before being transferred out of state.
VIAA provides an essential service by explaining the process of immigration removal proceedings and working with the detainees to determine their eligibility for relief and the means to obtain it. We prepare them for their one opportunity for a bond redetermination hearing which will often be conducted pro se. We provide self-help legal materials and educate and enlist the support of family and community members to best assist them. If they are asylum seekers or other particularly vulnerable individuals without representation, VIAA works with them to prepare a case history and then try and find them free or reduced fee legal services in the district where their hearings will be held.
Useful links:
Information about individual detention facilities:
http://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/dwnmap and http://www.ice.gov/pi/dro/facilities.htm
Locating a detainee:
In order to locate a person who is currently in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, go to www.ice.gov/locator. You will need to know either the person's full name, date and country of birth or the person's nine digit A number and country of birth.
Pro bono representatives nationwide who may be able to assist:
http://www.justice.gov/eoir/probono/states.htm
Immigration court in Batavia, N.Y. (inside the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility):
http://www.justice.gov/eoir/sibpages/btv/btvmain.htm
Immigration court in Buffalo, N.Y.:
http://www.justice.gov/eoir/sibpages/buf/bufmain.htm
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