IRC legal staff member Rosa Ramirez attends New Americans Campaign Conference

On April 28 and April 29th I had the privilege of representing the Immigration Resource Center at the New Americans Campaign Conference in Jersey City, New Jersey. The conference was held at the Historic Central Railroad Terminal of New Jersey. While at the conference, it was not lost on any of the attendees that we were congregated in a place where nearly 10.5 million immigrants came through to start their new lives after they were processed at Ellis Island. While many of the California, Texas, and Florida representatives (like myself) were freezing, the anticipation of new possibilities was still tangible in the air of the historic building. 

The New Americans Campaign (NAC), which is led by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), is a network of immigration nonprofits, community leaders, immigration legal providers, and faith-based organizations to help Legal Permanent Residents (also known as Green Card holders) to apply to become U.S. Citizens. As the person who oversees a lot of our Naturalization applications, it was wonderful to meet so many practitioners and immigration advocates across the U.S. and both share knowledge and receive tips on how to better our practices. There were workshops on how to help fill out fee waivers, how to advocate for clients with physical and/or intellectual disabilities, how to manage Naturalization Workshops virtually, what is needed to help create a Naturalization Department within an organization, how to partner with state and local municipalities to support Naturalization, and much more. 

While speaking to other practitioners, I observed that as an organization we have been able to take on cases that other non-profit organizations would have referred out and have been thankful for the opportunity to see cases through, like in the case of Olivia and of Cleotilde (whose stories we previously shared). We get to do what we do because of you, dear reader. Thank you for your continued support, either with your time (by way of sharing information about our organization), your talent (volunteering, interpreting) and your treasure (financial donations), which makes all of what we do a possibility.

-Rosa Ramirez