Page 47 - Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice

served in New York City . The top five counties of refugees served are Upstate, (Erie, Onondaga, Monroe, Oneida, and Albany) accounting for 4564 (96%) of all served .”11
Over the past 15 years, nearly 10,000 refugees arrived in Erie County . “Every year, between 1,500 and 2,000 people are resettled in the Buffalo area .”12 Although in 2000 it was ranked last of 48 major metro areas in gaining immigrants, Buffalo’s percentage of foreign-born individuals rose from just over four percent in 2000 to six percent in 2010 .13
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Buffalo’s refugee population has increased, and is still growing . Somalis, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Sudanese, Iraqi, Afghan, Iranian, Burmese, Bhutanese-Nepali, Cuban, Congolese and others14 have come to call Buffalo home .
The influx of asylees and refugees with a variety of needs poses new challenges to the New York State Court system in supporting access to justice . To address the justice gap, the U .S . and State governments are taking steps to improve access to justice and to make court proceedings fairer for refugee accessors .
2.1. statewide: various Programs
New York State is taking encouraging steps to help asylees and refugees proceed more effectively without counsel and to make lawyers available for little or no cost .
It is important to recognize that statewide, there is greater awareness of the legal needs of New Yorkers experiencing poverty, and the severe consequences for the justice system and society as a whole if these needs go unmet . Laws, rules, policies, and initiatives have been developed across the state .
Across the state, various programs promote and protect access to justice rights . This article does not intend to describe in great detail the full range of programs and best practices . Rather, it selected certain programs that have been adopted and implemented statewide and locally, with a focus on the 8th Judicial District’s experience in Erie County .
Since the Court system was unified in 1978, the first change in the organizational structure of the New York State courts occurred in 1999 when the office of the Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for Justice Initiatives (“DCAJ-JI”) was created “to integrate the broad principles of access to justice into the core elements of court operations .”15
11 n.y. sTaTe office of TemP. and disabiliTy assisTance, bureau of refugee and immigranT assisTance PoPulaTion daTa for ffy 2014, 2-3 (2014), available at https://otda.ny.gov/programs/bria/documents/population-report.pdf.
12 Melinda Miller, Refugees in Buffalo Deal with Scars from Their Homeland Long After Resettling Here, buff. news, Oct. 18, 2014, http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/refugees-in-buffalo-deal-with-scars-from-their-homeland- long-after-resettling-here-20141018.
13 See Jill wilson & audrey singer, immigranTs in 2010 meTroPoliTan america: a decade of change 8 (2011), available at http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2011/10/13%20immigration%20wilson%20singer/1013_ immigration_wilson_singer.pdf; Jerry Zremski, Immigrants End the Decline in Erie County Population, buff. news, Mar. 26, 2015, http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/erie-county/immigrants-end-the-decline-in-erie-county- population-20150326.
14 See n.y. sTaTe office of TemP. and disabiliTy assisTance, supra note 11.
15 office of The dePuTy chief admin. Judge for JusTice iniTiaTiVes, exPanding access To JusTice in new york sTaTe 1 (2009),
available at http://www.nycourts.gov/ip/nya2j/pdfs/TenYearReport2009.pdf.
Specific Areas for Reform: Immigration
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