What Immigration Reform Actually Means

[caption id="attachment_71568" align="alignnone" ] Photo credit: Anne McDonough Photography[/caption]

Ayuda has been helping Hispanic immigrants with legal services for 40 years. Now, the DC-based nonprofit is bracing for major changes if immigration reform passes. Executive director Jaime Farrant tells us the proposed legislation is far from final,but if passed, undocumented immigrants would still have an average of 13 years worth of hurdles to becoming a citizen. Ayuda, which means "help" in Spanish, may need to invest in even more legal aid to help immigrants through the lengthy process. (One way to support that: Ayuda isthrowing a gala this week to celebrate its four decades.)

[caption id="attachment_71578" align="alignnone" ] Photo credit: Elise Webb[/caption]

The 26-staff organization also has an office in Falls Church, Va., where immigrants come for legal services on everything from asylum and work permits to domestic violence and human trafficking. It was launched to mainly serve the Latino community, but Jaime, who's from Puerto Rico, says people from 108 countries were helped by Ayuda last year because the demographics in the DC region have changed so dramatically. Funding comes from federal, state, and local governments, and individual and corporate donations.

[caption id="attachment_71580" align="alignnone" ] Photo credit: Ayuda[/caption]

Lines for Ayuda's services stretched around the block in the '90s. One of the organization's most successful programs has been an interpreter bank filled with people fluent in 42 languages, including sign language. (We once stood in line to listen to Bob Dylan, who barely speaks any languages.) Civil agencies in DC have used it to connect immigrants with interpreters who can help them communicate with their lawyers. The program will expand to Montgomery County when funding is approved.