La Raza Centro Legal San Jose

The lawyers of the Centro Legal de la Raza are a unit of 39 professionals composed of lawyers, paralegals, organizers and administrative staff. These members are at the forefront of the fight to protect the rights of migrant workers and tenants. Assisting residents seeking legal status or naturalization As part of SFILEN, La Raza Centro Legal provides comprehensive immigration justice services, including asylum, deportation of unaccompanied minors, DACA, pre-DAPA, consular processing, family applications, lawful permanent residence, citizenship, preparation for citizenship interviews, GST renewals, applications and extensions of Work Permit Documents, VAWA applications, T and U visas, change of jurisdiction applications, among other immigration applications and facilitations. La Raza Centro Legal (LRCL) is a multicultural social justice center located in San Francisco`s Mission District. Centro Legal grew out of the civil rights and Chicano movements of the 1960s and 1970s and was founded in 1973 by Latino law students to fill a gap in the availability of economically and culturally accessible legal services to the Bay Area Latino population. In its early years, the Agency developed an immigration law practice to meet the needs of the community and provided legal defence in some of the important policy cases of the time. Later, we added a tenant rights project and a lawyer placement service in collaboration with a growing community of Latino lawyers. Since our inception, we have earned a reputation for credibility in the community: as a source of reliable legal advice and recommendations, as a place where clients are treated with dignity and respect, and where they find lawyers willing to fight for and with them. Pilar Eslava campaigned for the rights of migrant and low-wage workers and received her doctorate in law from CEU San Pablo University in Madrid, Spain. After graduation, she represented clients for two years in civil litigation (infringement cases, family law and employment law). Pilar`s involvement in the Hispanic community began when she emigrated to the United States and worked at the University of San Francisco. As a member of the local marketing and sales team, she participated in numerous community events and gained in-depth knowledge of the Hispanic immigrant population.

Her interest in immigration advocacy led her to transition her career to the practice of immigration law. She received her LL.M. from UC Berkeley School of Law, Boalt Hall, in 2013. Prior to joining LRCL, she worked on contract with a private law firm and handled various immigration applications. She joined LRCL in August 2015 as a contract immigration lawyer. She currently handles a variety of cases, including DACA applications, U visas, family applications, adjustment of status applications, naturalization, consular processing, and temporary exemptions. She was admitted to the California Bar. Ending displacement, preserving neighbourhoods and stabilizing our communities are very important goals for the tenants` rights agenda.

Immigration law remains at the centre of our work. The Workers` Rights Program was created in 1991 and the Senior Executives in Law Program was launched in 1998. All of these programs together are an essential part of our work to date. Protecting the economic security and well-being of our seniors Youth Law Academy is a three-year program for Oakland high school students to help them build their confidence and understanding of the path to college. Low-wage workers served by Centro Legal`s workers` rights program are employed in industries where wage theft and other serious workplace violations are commonplace. Centro Legal`s immigration practice focuses on the needs of the most vulnerable members of our community, including families living in poverty, long-term immigrants and undocumented families, youth, victims of violent crime, asylum seekers, and detainees in deportation proceedings.