Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc.

From the entire team at Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, we wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

Happy 8th night of Hanukkah from the entire team at Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo to all who are continuing their celebrations. Chag Sameach!

The trinity of crises of 2020 a global health pandemic, ongoing pervasive racial inequity, and rising unemployment has created the perfect storm. We expect demand for legal services to increase exponentially due to the economic fallout related to COVID-19. Many more people will need legal aid to help preserve housing, economic security, safety from abuse, food security, and access to health services. Will you take a stand with us for justice today? With your support, we will continue to fight for the rights of Western New Yorkers. You can make a contribution here: http://legalaidbuffalo.org/donate.

Chag sameach to all who celebrate on this first night of Hanukkah!

The Annual Yuletide Toy Drive, sponsored by the BAEC Young Lawyers Committee is on! The Yuletide Challenge Toy Drive benefits the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo's children clients, many of whom are in foster care. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the format of the Toy Drive has changed. In order to facilitate a contactless toy drive, the Young Lawyers Committee is collecting cash donations. Gifts will be purchased and mailed directly to our young recipients! 100% of donations will go towards purchasing toys for the children.

If you are behind on rent or mortgage AND had a loss of income due to COVID-19 and are income eligible, help is on the way! Beginning October 1st, call 211 or visit www.211wny.org to apply for assistance with past-due rent or mortgage payments. Applications will be accepted throughout the month of October and into November.

We are pleased to announce the first issue of the WNY Regional Immigration Assistance Center’s monthly newsletter. Every month we hope to have an article regarding the intersection of immigration law and criminal or family law, as well as scheduled CLEs. This month our article is about the repatriation of foreign nationals after an order of removal. For more information about the WNY Regional Immigration Assistance Center and to view the October issue of the newsletter, please visit: https://legalaidbuffalo.org/regional-immigration-assistanc/

Thank you, RBG, for your fearlessness and commitment to using the rule of law to support and elevate marginalized communities. #restinpower #rbg

Shana Tova and Happy Jewish New Year to all who observe. May the new year bring renewed hope and peace for all.

Our very own Criminal Defense Attorney Sam White is pictured here calling for immediate criminal justice reform as Co-Chair of the Criminal Justice Task Force spearheaded by the Minority Bar Association of Western New York. The MBAWNY has a criminal justice task force of lawyers that have been working for months to draft these suggestions. The seven recommendations are: Strengthen the Buffalo Police Department's rules to make sure officers turn on body-worn cameras.... Reduce the amount of overtime paid for police officers to appear in court, which proponents argue would reduce "the financial incentive for frivolous arrests and charges." Strengthen civilian oversight of the police department. Open police disciplinary hearings to the public. End the practice of hiring school resource officers in Buffalo Public Schools. Pass a duty to intervene law. End vehicle searches based on an officer noticing the odor of marijuana. Full text can be found here: https://buffalonews.com//pdf_d4bf87b8-f77e-11ea-ae9b-0754e Read more: https://www.wkbw.com//criminal-justice-task-force-proposes

"We Have Rights: When Documenting ICE Arrests" empowers both immigrants and bystanders with the tools to challenge and document ICE arrests. The website wehaverights.us has several know your rights videos in multiple languages. Visit: https://wehaverights.us.

PLEASE NOTE: This applies ONLY to FEDERALLY-HELD student governmental loans. Today, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos "fully implemented President Trump's Executive Orders" regarding extending through the end of 2020 the federal student loan relief that is part of the CARES Act. All borrowers with federally held student loans will have their payments automatically suspended until December 31, 2020 without penalty. In addition, the interest rate on all federally held studen...t loans will be set to 0% through the end of the calendar year. Borrowers will continue to have the option to make payments if they so choose. Doing so will allow borrowers to pay off their loans more quickly and at a lower cost. During this extended time frame for the payment suspension, collections on defaulted, federally held loans are still halted, and any borrower with defaulted federally held loans whose employer continues to garnish their wages will receive a refund of those garnishments. Non-payments by borrowers working full-time for qualifying employers will count toward the 120 payments required by the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and as payments that are required to receive forgiveness under an income-driven repayment plan. Please consult the federal Department of Education and your federal loan servicer for more information. https://www.ed.gov//secretary-devos-fully-implements-presi

The application for the NYS rent relief program has been extended through August 6th: https://hcr.ny.gov/RRP

If you live in the Town of Amherst or Williamsville and need rental assistance, please visit http://amherst.ny.us/etbra to determine your eligibility and apply.

Last night, an update to our system inadvertently caused a delay in the release of $600 FPUC payments. UI and PUA payments were not impacted. We have corrected ...the issue, and FPUC payments will be processed tonight. You will receive your money this week. Thank you for your patience. As a reminder, under current federal rules, the last week for FPUC benefits in New York is the benefit week ending July 26th.

Tens of millions of Americans who lost their jobs because of the pandemic are now in danger of having their incomes slashed for a second time. The supplemental unemployment benefits of $600 per week that Congress approved four months ago are set to expire in less than two weeks threatening to hurt strapped households and the U.S. economy, as billions of dollars' worth in spending suddenly comes to a halt. As Congress comes back into session this week, lawmakers will debate whether to extend the supplemental benefits, which have been a lifeline for more than 30 million people across the United States.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the launch of an emergency rental assistance program. The program will be administered by New York State Homes and Community Renewal and access to program applications will be available online beginning Thursday, July 16. Under the new program, eligible households will benefit from a one-time rental subsidy paid directly to landlords and housing providers. Tenants are not required to repay this assistance. To qualify for the program, applicants mu...st meet all of the eligibility requirements: Must be a renter with a primary residence in New York State. Before March 1, 2020 and at the time of application, household income (including unemployment benefits) must be below 80 percent of the Area Median Income, adjusted for household size. Applicants can find the Area Median Income for their county, based on household size, on HCR’s website here. Before March 1, 2020 and at the time of application, the household must have been rent burdened, which is defined as paying more than 30 percent of gross monthly income towards rent. Applicants must have lost income during any period between April 1, 2020 and July 31, 2020.

The supreme court ruled Thursday that the US government can deport some people seeking asylum without allowing them to make their case to a federal judge. The ruling is a victory for the Trump administration, which has relentlessly attacked the asylum process. The 7-2 ruling by the nine judges will affect thousands of asylum seekers who no longer are entitled to habeas corpus, which protects people from unlawful imprisonment. In her dissenting opinion, Sotomayor said Congress... had blocked the courts from carrying out a lawful judicial inquiry into asylum claims. "Today’s decision handcuffs the judiciary’s ability to perform its constitutional duty to safeguard individual liberty and dismantles a critical component of the separation of powers," Sotomayor wrote. "It increases the risk of erroneous immigration decisions that contravene governing statutes and treaties.