Sur Legal and Partners Host Georgia’s First Labor-Based Deferred Action Clinic

At the end of January, Sur Legal Collaborative alongside partner organizations, Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network (GAIN) and Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (CDM), hosted Georgia’s first labor-based deferred action (DA) clinic in Gainesville.

This DA clinic supported five survivors of the 2021 Foundation Food Group nitrogen leak with applications for protection from deportation and work permits. These critical benefits can help immigrants build secure lives in the United States, including providing protection from immigration based retaliation and eligibility to secure better paying, less hazardous jobs. In addition to finalizing these applications, workers were given important information about their labor rights as well as information on how to access vaccines for COVID-19, as these workers are still at high risk for contracting this illness in the workplace and in their communities.

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Our organizations spent the last several months preparing for this clinic, screening participants, and educating them about the process. We are so grateful to the Gainesville Office of the Georgia Legal Services Program (GLSP) for sharing their space with us to host this clinic and to our partners GAIN and CDM for making this first clinic such a success! GLSP also provided survivors with information regarding its civil legal services, including housing legal assistance. 

“Obtaining protection from immigration enforcement is a critical strategy for building worker power—without it, immigrant workers remain fearful of not only coming forward to report labor violations, but also of joining larger organizing campaigns led by unions and worker centers,” shared Sur Legal’s Executive Director, Shelly Anand. “Over the past three years as an organization, Sur Legal has supported workers throughout the Deep South to file labor complaints, participate in labor investigations, and take the necessary steps to apply for deferred action. However, capacity for direct representation is always limited while the need for this assistance remains great.”

In response to this great need, the legal clinic model is growing across the U.S., and we are proud to be a part of piloting this new movement in the South. Bringing together workers, worker centers, unions, and legal services nonprofits, we seek to address systemic issues while honoring workers’ lived experiences in ways that are community-driven, accessible, and empowering.

“Our team truly valued working with our friends at Sur Legal and CDM to envision ways we can pool our resources to serve more survivors of workplace exploitation,” shared Adriana Heffley, Director of Legal Services at GAIN. “We are energized about expanding legal support across Georgia through this clinic model. The success of this clinic shows we are truly stronger together!” 

Carmen Martinez, Partnership Manager at CDM added, “All workers, no matter their immigration status, should be able to speak out about dangerous health and safety conditions without fear of immigration-based retaliation. Deferred action protects immigrant and migrant workers’ ability to do so. CDM will continue to support workers’ access to deferred action and stand with them in their fight for justice.”

This work would not be possible without generous support from Sur Legal donors. We are looking forward to hosting more clinics for workers here in Georgia in the fight for safer and fairer workplaces. In a world where unscrupulous employers can use immigration-based retaliation as a tool to silence whistleblowers, workers deserve to be informed and protected.