For the more than 2.5 million students from immigrant families who are enrolled in higher education in California, this year’s back to school season is marked by a heightened sense of insecurity amid the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown. Yet as the federal government tightens the screws on legal pathways for immigration, California public colleges offer a vital resource for DACA students and those seeking to naturalize or obtain green cards.
In 2018, California made a $10 million investment, leading to the creation of the Find Your Ally program. Launched during the first Trump administration, the program — which operates across the state’s public colleges and universities — provides free immigrant legal aid to current and previously enrolled students, regardless of immigration status. ACoM recently spoke with Alonso Garcia of the Foundation for California Community Colleges about how Find Your Ally is supporting students enrolled in one of the 115 community colleges across the state.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How many students has Find Your Ally served to date?
For the community college system, we’ve served about 40,000 students since its inception, 12,000 of that in just the last year alone. About 56% of the students that come are looking for their DACA renewals … we do pay for DACA renewal filing fees as well. In fact, Find Your Ally has paid out a little over $4.5 million in filing fee assistance since 2019. About 11% of the students that come to us qualify for affirmative relief options, meaning they’re able to adjust status. So that’s either through a U visa, VAWA [Violence Against Women Act], naturalization, [or] legal permanent residency. We’ve supported students from over 40 countries so far, the bulk of them coming from Latin America.
What are the main services that Find Your Ally provides?
Our main service starts with a general consultation to screen for any potential forms of relief. From there, we can do naturalization, citizenship, U visas, VAWAs, TPS. Some of the things that we currently don’t have, but we’re seeking additional funding for, is to be able to provide humanitarian types of support, whether it be asylum or, right now, we’re seeing a high need for removal defense services, as well. We don’t cover anything employment related, like an H-1B visa process, for example.
One of the great things about our program is that the services stay on with the student, regardless of when the affiliation ends with the community college system. We do that because immigration relief takes so long to get there. As long as they were a student at point of intake, regardless of whether they’re with us for a semester or two, or they graduate with their Associate’s [Degree] or certificate program, we’ll continue to fund the attorney time beyond their tenure at our campuses.
All services are free and comprehensive and confidential. The information does not get shared with the California Community College Chancellor’s office, or myself. All information lives with the identified legal service providers.
You mention the legal service providers. Who are they and what role do they play in the program?
We have 10 immigration legal service providers that we’ve partnered with across the state. They are vetted by the California Department of Social Services Immigration and Integration Unit. They have a number of requirements. For example, they have to have a proven track record of support in this space, 3+ years of operating and a number of other financial and professional licenses and qualified attorneys to be able to qualify for the program. Since we launched, we’ve had a relationship with about 10 partners that support all the 115 brick and mortar campuses.
What are some of the current challenges given the political climate right now?
One of the big challenges that we have is managing students’ expectations when they meet with our teams. I think it comes from a preconceived notion of what it means to work with an immigration attorney.
Our students come to us, they have those conversations, and then they reach out in two or three days’ time saying, “What’s going on? Why haven’t you found an answer for me?” And the sad answer is that most of the time, the students that come to us are not going to be able to adjust status, right? I shared with you that we’ve supported about 40,000 students or so, and only 11% of those are eligible.
Sometimes the answer that they don’t want to hear is ‘no’ or be patient because something that used to take maybe a couple weeks is now taking upwards of four to six months. And oftentimes we can’t move forward until we know what’s in a student’s record. While they might be up front about everything, they might not have shared one thing because they didn’t think it was important, or some of the dates might be wrong. If we file things with incorrect information, then we’re also putting them at jeopardy.
What are the main challenges that immigrants are facing right now, for example, with delays to DACA renewals?
That has been an area that we’ve been exploring. When a student does come in for a DACA renewal, we also screen for other forms of relief because there might be a change in policy or there might be a form of relief for them as well. We also try to blend in other holistic supports adjacent to immigration. We have relationships with all of the undocumented student resource centers across the state and their identified Undocu-Liaison. We also let them know that they can go to the Dream Resource Center on their campus and get emergency aid as well if they’re facing housing insecurity, basic needs support, mental health and wellness. So we try to really think about our students more holistically rather than just needing immigration services.
What is a success story that demonstrates the impact of the program?
We had a student who was facing major factors in their schooling and their personal life. One of our providers helped them get financial aid, get their life back on track, then renew their DACA and later apply for citizenship. I’m sure they either got married or something happened where they were able to adjust status.
Another student found out they were eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (available to undocumented children in the US under the age of 21 who had been abused or neglected by their parents) about four months before they turned 21. Our team down in LA was able to expedite a lot of it and get the student through the court system to keep their eligibility.
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