While we are guaranteed the right to legal counsel in criminal cases, there is no equivalent right in civil cases, and that often leaves low income people with no ability to find representation in things like landlord-tenant disputes, foreclosures, evictions, debt collection, child custody cases, and domestic violence orders of protection.
The Lee County Legal Aid Society is a private nonprofit that’s been providing no-cost civil legal aid to low-income residents of Lee County since 1967. And starting last year, they’ve expanded their efforts to assist immigrant children – including those who have been abandoned, entered the country alone, or are victims of human trafficking – establish a pathway to legal citizenship. The expansion is made possible by a federal American Rescue Plan Act grant administered by the United Way of Lee, Hendry, and Glades Counties.
We talk to the organization’s Executive Director, and one of their staff attorneys who is leading this immigration work, to learn more.
GUESTS:
Andrew Banyai, Executive Director of the Lee County Legal Aid Society
Eunice Gedeon Linot, LCAS staff attorney
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