OUR PROGRAMS
Legal
Providing legal guidance and counseling through the immigrant processes
HACES Offers Comprehensive Legal Services
With over 20 years of experience, HACES has gained the community’s trust by providing legal guidance and consulting to immigrants throughout their journey of becoming knowledgeable, involved members in the United States. HACES is recognized by the United States Department of Justice. Our accredited staff and volunteer attorneys ensure each individual is in good standing.
With our comprehensive assistance, our clients obtain immigration benefits through family petitions, waivers, adjustment of status, consular process, parole in place, work permits, TPS and DACA renewals, U, T, and VAWA visitor’s visas and translation of documents.
Our three legal programs are:
Citizenship & Naturalization
Applicants enrolled in the program become United States citizens and are eligible to register to vote.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
Our staff provides assistance with paperwork and legal navigation until DACA permits are obtained.
Legalization & Family Unification
Focused on family unification through family-based petitions.
HACES Offers Comprehensive Legal Services
With over 20 years of experience, HACES has gained the community’s trust by providing legal guidance and consulting to immigrants throughout their journey of becoming knowledgeable, involved members in the United States. HACES is recognized by the United States Department of Justice. Our accredited staff and volunteer attorneys ensure each individual is in good standing.
With our comprehensive assistance, our clients obtain immigration benefits through family petitions, waivers, adjustment of status, consular process, parole in place, work permits, TPS and DACA renewals, U, T and VAWA, visitor’s visas and translation of documents.
Our three legal programs are:
Citizenship & Naturalization
Applicants enrolled in the program become United States citizens and registered voters.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
Our staff provides assistance with paperwork and legal navigation until DACA permits are obtained.
Legalization & Family Unification
Focused on family unification through family-based petitions.
HACES has Real World Experience
People applied for U.S. Citizenship
Active cases handled by our immigration case managers
Dreamers renewed their work permits
Legal screenings conducted by HACES case managers
DACA scholarships granted to dreamers to help pay the $495 renewal fee totaling $121,275 in funds distributed
DACA scholarships granted to dreamers to help pay the $495 renewal fee totaling $121,275 in funds distributed
Citizenship & Naturalization
HACES helps make each client’s journey easier by providing comprehensive immigration services.
After becoming a naturalized citizen, an individual gains advantages such as:
The ability to travel for longer periods of time outside the United States
Shorten the time for immediate relatives to apply for legal residency
Protection from deportation
No longer needs to renew their legal permanent residency card every 10 years
Can apply for government jobs
Can run for public office
Can vote
Naturalization is an important milestone in the path toward U.S. citizenship, and while there are many benefits to citizenship, the path to getting there can be challenging. Our accredited staff and volunteer attorneys ensure that each individual is in good standing to apply for naturalization in accordance with government regulations. Under the New Americans Initiative (NAI), we provide community outreach, information sessions, legal screenings, application preparedness, case management, study guides, group workshops, and citizenship classes. HACES began offering classes in 2005 and since then has had over 450 graduates.
Over 98% of the applicants enrolled in the program become United States citizens and registered voters. Assistance in the naturalization process is a service that aligns with the legal pillar of HACES. Naturalization gives immigrants the same rights as a person born in the US.
Our clients proudly show their Citizenship certificates.
Success Story
“En mi opinión yo siento que la ayuda recibida desde el momento que vine a mi consulta de Ciudadanía fue muy fácil y sencilla , entendí cómo iba a ser todo mi proceso y desde ahí me motive a querer aplicar por la ciudadanía, aunque durante el proceso de recolección de mis documentos sucedió algo triste en mi familia , a mi hijo se le detecto cancer, pase junto con mi familia muchos momentos de tristeza y miedo de perder a mi criatura , pero viendo lo fuerte que es el , mi familia y yo logramos salir adelante y esto me me motivó aún más a continuar con mi proceso de Ciudadanía, empecé a acudir a mis clases de Ciudadania aqui en HACES, y la ayuda recibida de los maestros fue extraordinaria y logre prepararme para mi entrevista la cual logre pasar y tendre mi cita para obtener mi certificado el día 19 de Octubre primero Dios”
Rafael
Client of HACES
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
Cindy Ruiz speaks about her experience with helping clients through DACA Program at HACES ( December 2020).
HACES is honored to serve so many DREAMERS. While initial applications are no longer being accepted, HACES helps more than 380 young people each year with their renewal applications.
Cindy Ruiz is accredited by the United States Department of Justice.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals was enacted in 2012 through presidential executive order to protect undocumented youth. June 15, 2022 marked the ten-year anniversary of the passage of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy by the Department of Homeland Security, which has allowed hundreds of thousands of non-citizens who were brought to the United States as children to live, study, and work in our communities—contributing to our economy and the future of our country—without fear of removal.
Since 2012, approximately 825,000 individuals have been granted DACA. DACA households have significant spending power – they own more than 68,000 homes across the country, contribute $760 million in mortgage payments and $2.5 billion in rental payments annually, and pay $6.2 billion in federal taxes and $3.3 billion in state and local taxes each year.
In 2021, HACES’ funding partner, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), received $1 MIL to cover the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) fee for DACA applicants who can’t afford the $495 renewal fee. Scholarships are granted on a first-come basis and must meet income eligibility guidelines. We are proud to partner with ICIRR to be able to help those who need us the most! HACES has helped 200 immigrants secure scholarships.
Success Story
“Currently, I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at Northwestern University and a Law & Social Science Doctoral Fellow at the American Bar Foundation. I am a sociologist of law, race, and immigration researching the everyday lives of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. I am a filmmaker, undocumented scholar-activist, and an aspiring professor… Without DACA, I would not be able to practice my degrees. “
Oscar Cornejo Casares
Client of HACES
Legalization & Family Unification
Evelyn Campos speaks about her experience with helping clients through the Legalization & Family Unification Program at HACES ( December 2020).
Evelyn Campos is accredited by the United States Department of Justice.
Our DOJ accredited immigration advocates handle a wide range of cases that include: petitions, adjustment of status, consular processes, visitor’s visas, asylum requests, fiancé visa, waiver preparation, green card renewal, and work permit- employment authorization renewal. Legal screenings are offered to determine whether someone may be eligible to receive an immigration benefit. HACES’s family unification program is one of the few of its kind in Lake County. Family-based petitions allow certain foreign family members of U.S citizens and lawful permanent residents to become lawful permanent residents based on specific immigrant visa guidelines. Our program provides affordable direct services. If you need assistance with an immigration matter, we are here to help. Services are offered in English and Spanish.