Volunteer Guide

Brooklyn Defender Services - Immigration Practice

  • Location:
    177 Livingston St
    5th Floor
    Brooklyn, NY 11201
  • Phone:
    (718) 254-0700
  • Toll-free:
    1-888-898-0700
  • Fax:
    (718) 254-0897

Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) advises clients about the immigration consequences of criminal charges and helps clients apply for citizenship, green cards, visas for domestic violence or trafficking victims, deferred action, and other immigration benefits. BDS has a robust removal defense practice; we secure immigrant clients’ release from immigration detention and defend them against deportation in immigration court. Since November 2013 BDS has been serving as assigned counsel under the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project, a first-in-the-nation program that provides legal representation for indigent New Yorkers in detained removal proceedings in New York City and New Jersey.

Counties served: Kings (Brooklyn)
Detention Facilities Served: Bergen County Jail (NJ), Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility (NJ), Essex County Correctional Facility (NJ), Hudson County Correctional Facility (NJ), Orange County Correctional Facility (NY)

Services Provided

Areas of immigration legal assistance: Adjustment of Status, Asylum applications, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Employment authorization, Family-based petitions, Habeas Corpus, Naturalization/Citizenship, Removal hearings, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, T visas, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), U visas, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) petitions
Populations served: Lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender
Languages spoken: Arabic, English, French, Haitian Creole, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Urdu

Additional Details

Pro Bono opportunities? Yes