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Asylum Seeker Assistance Program
1.
What is the Asylum Seeker Assistance Project (ASAP)?
2.
What Services Does ASAP Provide?
3.
Why is this project important?
4.
Goals of the Asylum Seeker Assistance Program?
What
is the Asylum Seeker Assistance Program?
The
Asylum Seeker Assistance Program (ASAP) was the flagship project
of the Political Asylum Project of Austin (PAPA) when founded
in 1987. Since ASAP’s inception PAPA has been representing
refugees from around the world who are fleeing persecution
in their homeland. ASAP seeks to increase legal representation
for asylum seekers, especially those who would otherwise go
unrepresented. Asylum can be granted to those who can demonstrate
past persecution or a well-founded fear of returning to their
homeland due to persecution based on race, religion, nationality,
political opinion or membership in a particular social group.
Additionally ASAP provides legal assistance to Salvadoran
and Guatemalan asylum seekers in applying for relief under
the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act
(NACARA), as well as to Hondurans, Nicaraguans and Salvadorans
in applying for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
NACARA
applicants include certain asylum seekers and members of the
American Baptist Church (ABC) class action suit, filed against
the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). As ABC class
members these asylum seekers are eligible to adjust their
status to that of Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR).
What
Services Does ASAP Provide?
- Intake service to indigent asylum seekers in central Texas.
- Legal assistance and/or legal representation to eligible
applicants with past persecution or a well founded fear
of persecution
- Legal representation during application process, including
filing application, preparing evidentiary documentation,
and presenting the case in court.
- Assistance in renewing Employment Authorization Documents.
- Legal assistance to asylees and refugees filing for legal
permanent residence or U.S. citizenship, as well as petitioning
for family members abroad.
Why
is ASAP important?
Asylum
seekers are one of the most vulnerable groups of immigrants in America.
Like refugees, they are forced to flee their homeland and are unable to
return due to the fear of persecution. However, they do not arrive with
the protected status of "refugee" and thus do not have the same
resources available to them. Often, the decision to deem a group of
people as refugees is strictly political and thus ignores some who have
as viable a need for protection as others. PAPA was established to
provide representation to those seeking refuge in the United States.
PAPA is one of very few nonprofit organizations offering such
specialized legal expertise. Without representation these immigrants'
voice would not be heard.
Goals
of ASAP
- Provide legal representation to eligible indigent persons
seeking protection under U.S. asylum law.
- Offer
recent immigrants the resources necessary to become advocates
for themselves.
- Educate
asylum seekers on the changes in the immigrations laws affecting
them.
- Recruit
and train attorney and non-attorney volunteers on U.S. asylum
law so that they can prepare and represent clients before
the Asylum Office, Immigration Court and/or the Board of
Immigration Appeals.
- Educate the community about the contributions made by immigrants
in Central Texas.
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