Dallas Ponies Up $100,000 for Legal Services for Immigrants Facing Deportation

The City of Dallas will spend $100,000 on legal services for local residents facing deportation.The money allocated by the City Council will be matched by another $100,000 from the Vera Institute of Justice, a non-profit based in New York City.The money will be distributed through the newly created Civil Legal Immigration Services office, said Liz Cedillo-Pereira, head of the Office of Welcoming Communities and Immigrant Affairs. The Vera Institute will invite local non-profits that are certified by the Department of Justice to apply and they will select the groups that will get the funding. “They have to be located in Dallas and working for Dallas residents,” said Cedillo-Pereira.The city expects to have Civil Legal Immigration Services running by summer’s end. Cedillo-Pereira said the financial aid is a result of the recommendations in her office's strategic plan approved last October, aiming to "build safe, healthy and connected communities.”To emphasize that point, Mayor Eric Johnson on Friday attended an event to celebrate Immigrant Heritage Month downtown at Main Street Garden.“A quarter of our city is from somewhere else,” said Johnson. “Immigrant communities make Dallas stronger.”  Continue reading...