Immigration Services- San Antonio, TX

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Immigration Services

 Rationale:
San Antonio’s immigrant and refugee communities are experiencing dynamic growth and change. The Immigration Services stakeholder group was formed to address the service needs of this growing population.

Goal:

• Increase the cooperation of internal and external stakeholders to address the acute and long term needs of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.

Project Summary:
San Antonio has introduced two new initiatives to engage two stakeholder groups and populations in the community. The Faith Based Initiative (FBI) seeks to build relationships and collaboration between the faith community, government agencies, non-profit organizations and community groups towards improving the lives of families and communities in need. The Immigration Community Liaison is committed to strengthening coordination and connection to services for the immigrant community.

The city’s Immigration Services works with local stakeholder groups, nonprofit, and interfaith organizations to establish a network to coordinate and connect the immigrant community to needed services. The city funds legal services for residents with U.S. citizen family members who are at risk of deportation. Residents can contact community legal service providers to apply for free legal representation when they are facing deportation.

Stakeholders also developed a resource directory to provide information about organizations that offer services and support to immigrant and refugee families in the areas of education, employment, housing, health, and legal services.

These two initiatives have also collaborated to create the Interfaith Welcome Coalition (IWC)—a faith-based collective that seeks to address the changing needs of at-risk immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.

Engagement Strategies:

• A diverse group of stakeholders collaborate to provide needed services to immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
• Action teams, based upon stakeholder feedback, guide the ongoing work and decide upon future projects.

Outcomes:

• The IWC helped coordinate the temporary lodging of individuals who were released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, waiting to be reunited with their children.
• IWC negotiated and finalized a memorandum of understanding with the Greyhound bus station where many immigrants are left without belongings.

 Additional Resources:
San Antonio, TX- 2019 AAC Finalist: Presentation

Local Contact:
Tino Gallegos
Immigration Liaison
(210) 207-8993
[email protected]