Last month, Catalina Rodriguez-Lima, director of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MIMA), OSI-Baltimore’s partner in the Safe City Baltimore immigrant defense and education initiative, went to Vera Institute of Justice’s Detroit convening to report on the initiative’s progress a year after OSI Director Diana Morris joined Mayor Catherine Pugh and Rodriguez-Lima at City Hall to announce the details.
Since the Safe City Baltimore grantees began delivering services in March, 710 local residents have been educated about available services and 380 clients are either enrolled in or otherwise accessing informational, referral, or counseling services. At least 153 U.S. citizen children have been impacted by local services. Clients served by Safe City Baltimore have been living in the U.S. for an average of nine years.
Pugh and Rodriguez-Lima presented these initial results to Baltimore residents in October.
Safe City Baltimore is part of the Vera Institute of Justice’s SAFE Network, which includes 12 local jurisdictions. Across the country, 38% of cases represented by SAFE attorneys resulted in successful outcomes, permitting SAFE clients to remain in the United States. Represented clients have deep roots and ties to their communities, and 87% of children with represented parents were U.S. citizens.
