
Eduardo García
Host: New Mexico Immigrant Law Center
Sponsor: W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Adriel increased access to legal services for low-income immigrants in underserved and rural communities in New Mexico through strategic collaboration with community partners.
New Mexico is a sparsely populated and impoverished state which prevents many communities across the state from accessing basic legal services. They are among the poorest of the working poor and foreign-born individuals are also less likely to graduate from high school, be employed in nonservice occupations, and be unemployed than native-born individuals. Moreover, many parents in immigrant families are not fluent in English, and are not familiar with their rights within American society. As a result, many immigrant parents do not take advantage of public support systems that are available to them, and they often fall victim to wage theft, consumer fraud, predatory lending or other predatory practices. To compound their problems, many immigrants in New Mexico live in communities without even one attorney. This project builds on state-wide immigrant integration efforts and addresses the lack of access to legal services by representing low-income immigrants in underserved areas of New Mexico and establishing strategic partnerships across the state.
In the past two years, Adriel has:
From 2016 to 2020, the New Mexico Immigration Corps deployed lawyers and paralegals to provide critically needed legal aid to immigrant children and families throughout New Mexico. A primary goal of the program was to create a pipeline of new and prospective lawyers from the immigrant community and communities of color into the public interest sector in New Mexico.
Throughout the four-year program, Fellows partnered with public interest programs at the University of New Mexico School of Law to create opportunities for law students interested in working with immigrant populations; collaborated to increase the representation of historically marginalized individuals in the legal profession; coordinated with pro bono attorneys interested in supporting low-income immigrants; and worked with community organizations to provide holistic services and support.
Now that the Fellowship is complete, Adriel plans to:
Establishing a Pipeline of Public Interest Attorneys in New Mexico to Support Immigrant Families
The New Mexico Immigrant Law Center has provided me many opportunities to grow and to give back to the immigrant community. The Fellowship included legal services and systemic advocacy, which allowed me to explore various aspects of the legal profession
Adriel Orozco /
Equal Justice Works Fellow
Host: New Mexico Immigrant Law Center
Sponsor: W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Host: New Mexico Immigrant Law Center
Sponsor: W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Host: New Mexico Immigrant Law Center
Sponsor: W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Host: New Mexico Immigrant Law Center
Sponsor: W.K. Kellogg Foundation