Legal Program Highlights
Rural Maine Project: Updates from the Road
Rural Community Liaison Lourdes Trujillo sits at ILAP’s table during a resource fair at Mano en Mano’s Welcome & Resource Center in Milbridge.
ILAP’s Rural Maine Project was on the road this summer, connecting with partner organizations across the state serving farmworkers and immigrant communities in rural Maine.
“We hope to be a source of information for these immigrants who live in remote areas and have little or no access to information, serving as support to the community,” says ILAP’s new Rural Community Liaison, Lourdes Trujillo.
As part of the Rural Maine Project, ILAP works with partner organizations to address labor trafficking and exploitation across Maine, thanks to funding from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. Over the summer, ILAP played an integral role in responding to a continuing situation, assisting workers in connecting with legal and other assistance.
Forms Program: By the Numbers
ILAP’s Forms Program provides support completing and filing critical immigration forms. Since May 2023, the Forms Program has:
Helped 15 Haiti Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders renew their TPS status.
Screened and assisted 56 new Haiti TPS clients. Twenty have already been approved!
Held an El Salvador TPS renewal clinic in Portland and Milbridge, helping 17 people.
Filed Change of Venue motions for nearly 60 people at our monthly clinics, ensuring they avoid orders of deportation for not being able to attend court hearings in other states.
ILAP Launches New Legal Resource Library
ILAP sees firsthand how complicated the immigration system is. Through community legal education and online resources, ILAP works to help immigrants better understand how to navigate it.
As part of this work, ILAP re-organized the Get Legal Help section of our website to make our robust collection of digital resources and information easier to find and accessible in more languages. The result is a new, multilingual legal resource library, organized by immigration topic.
Visit ILAP’s Get Legal Help page to check it out!
ILAP’s website now includes sections with information and helpful guides on topics including applying for asylum, immigration court, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), changing your address, checking in with ICE, and more. All pages are available in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Lingala, and Haitian Creole, with additional information available in Somali, Amharic, Dari, Pashto, and Arabic.
“Knowledge is power,” says Communications and Development Lead Sarah Barton. “We believe everyone, regardless of what language they speak, should have access to information that makes them feel empowered to navigate the U.S. immigration system.”
We’re encouraging feedback and have included a “Help Us Improve” form on the bottom of every page. Please share your thoughts with us!