These days, nonprofit Catholic Legal Services, Archdiocese of Miami is seeing about 200 people a day come through its downtown office.
Everyone who walks in is seeking some type of help with immigration services.
“They help me renew my work permit and my DACA since I came here as a child,” said Charlemagne Sands, who’s been coming to CLS for years for this type of application assistance.
The agency, which has been around for more than 25 years, helps with everything from asylum applications, removal defense, DACA renewals to family petitions, and much more.
And with the recent influx of border crossings and landings, the demand for their services is skyrocketing. The agency is having to “pivot” in order to help as many people as possible.
“It is not possible for us as an office to respond to all of the legal needs of the community of new arrivals that are coming,” said Randy McGrorty, the CEO and co-founder. “So we have to pivot a little bit towards group orientation and giving information about the process that these individuals will have to go through.”
McGrorty says the most important service they provide is information.

“They are frightened. But they want to follow the legal process, but no one has explained it to them, so we’re filling in that gap,” McGrorty said.
CLS is mostly seeing people from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela. But they’re also seeing people from places like Peru, Colombia and Central America.
McGrorty says one strain on many asylum seekers and our community is that they’re released without the ability to work while they pursue their claims.
“Most of these people are willing and able to work,” McGrorty said. “Our economy, particularly in South Florida, needs workers, especially entry-level workers. Employers are begging for workers and we have them. But they’re not being released with a document that allows them to work.”
He said providing work authorization would be a huge win.

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