Roxana Cortés-Mills feels her entire life has been colored by immigration law in one way or another.
Born in Mexico, she came to the United States and finally reunited with her father at the age of eleven. She’s no stranger to the long and complicated limitations of the U.S. immigrant legal system that can impact families.
Now, she is the associate legal director at the Immigrant Legal Center, a nonprofit providing legal assistance, education and advocacy for immigrants in Nebraska and Southeast Iowa. She leads a team of attorneys, Department of Justice (DOJ) accredited representatives, and paralegals that help individuals and families navigate the immigration legal system
In an interview with El Perico, she talked about the Nebraska Immigration Legal Assistance Hotline and how calling it can connect immigrants to legal services.
What is NILAH?
NILAH, or the Nebraska Immigration Legal Assistance Hotline, is a centralized telephone hotline for low-income individuals seeking immigration legal services. Hosted by the Immigrant Legal Center, the confidential and free hotline connects callers with professionals at ILC and other nonprofits who can provide advice and representation on immigration legal matters.
Nonprofit immigration legal services providers that take on cases from NILAH’s include Catholic Charities (CC), Centro Hispano Comunitario de Nebraska (CHCN), Women’s Center for Advancement (WCA), Lutheran Family Services (LFS), and the Center for Legal Immigration Assistance (CLIA).
Who can call NILAH?
Anyone who is in need of immigration legal assistance— regardless of status or income — can call the free hotline. Services include assistance for individuals in removal proceedings, applying for work authorization documents, navigating the asylum seeking process, and more.
What happens when I call NILAH?
When you call (855) 307-6730, you’ll connect with a NILAH paralegal who will ask a number of questions. This 20 to 45 minute-long questionnaire will help them better understand your situation, determine what relief is needed, and identify if there is a provider that has immediate availability to take on clients. They will then connect you with the nonprofit services provider who can meet your needs in the shortest amount of time.
What happens if I call and no one answers?
Upon calling (855) 307-6730, it’s possible that a paralegal is assisting another caller and you will have to leave a voicemail. NILAH paralegals take calls from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. At 3 p.m., they begin to answer voicemails that had been left throughout the day, and can reach out to you then, Cortes-Mills said.
“The only way NILAH can return calls is if an individual leaves a voicemail,” said Cortes-Mills.
How long will I wait between calling NILAH and receiving help?
Sometimes there is a wait list for legal services depending on the demand. When there is no immediate opening, you would be placed on a wait list for one month. If after a month of being on the wait list you still haven’t heard back from NILAH, it’s important that you call again to let NILAH paralegals know you are still in need of an immigration service provider.
If the individual doesn’t call back within the month, and no appointment is set up, then the NILAH paralegals are going to assume that the individual already found another attorney.
“So it’s really important that if they are placed on the wait list, and they do not hear back from NILAH, that they call once a month to remind NILAH that they are still in need of being placed with a lawyer or a DOJ-accredited rep,” Cortes-Mills said.
Is it safe to share my information?
Yes. NILAH calls are confidential, which means the personal information given by the caller to paralegals cannot be shared with anyone outside the NILAH system. When an individual is placed with a legal service provider, the NILAH paralegal will call the individual to ask for permission to share their personal information.
What if I don’t speak English?
The hotline is run by paralegals who speak English and Spanish. If the caller speaks any other language, paralegals will connect to an interpreter of the language needed.
Nonprofit organizations throughout Omaha and the surrounding areas provide free legal services for immigrants who cannot afford legal assistance from a private lawyer. Organizations have been accredited by the DOJ, meaning professionals have demonstrated to the DOJ that their staff has the right training to provide immigration legal services to individuals.
For more information on how to access free immigrant legal services, call the NILAH hotline at (855) 307-6730 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.