Immigration Advisory for Healthcare Providers
In December 2016, Ana Pottratz Acosta, MLP Managing Attorney, led an immigration law information session at United Family Medicine for the undocumented patient population. As a direct result of the information session, the MLP saw an uptick in immigration law referrals from providers. Following a series of executive orders and policy changes impacting immigration laws, along with rumored changes that would impact delivery of healthcare services to undocumented patients, the Upper Midwest Healthcare Legal Partnership Learning Collaborative published a white paper “Immigration Advisory for Healthcare Providers” co-authored by Clinical Instructor, Ana Pottratz Acosta. This advisory has been distributed to healthcare providers throughout Minnesota and is available on the Upper Midwest Healthcare Legal Partnership Learning Collaborative website (midwesthlp.org).
Medical Legal Partnership Celebrates Two Successes
IMMIGRATION ASSISTANCE
Mary is a U.S. citizen of Somali decent married to Jerry, a citizen of Somalia. After marrying Jerry in March 2016, Mary filed a pro se I-130 petition for alien relative with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to sponsor Jerry for permanent resident status. Several months after filing the I-130 petition, Mary received a Request for Evidence (RFE) from USCIS, requesting additional evidence to show Mary and Jerry have a bona fide relationship, which was referred to the MLP for legal services. The MLP took on Mary’s case for full representation and assisted her with preparing a response to the USCIS RFE. After submitting the response to the RFE on Mary’s behalf, the I-130 petition was approved by USCIS and the file was forwarded to the U.S. Department of State for further processing and issuance of a permanent residence visa. The MLP then assisted Mary with collecting and submitting documents to the U.S. Department of State in support of the visa application. Additionally, because Jerry was a citizen of Somalia, he was subject to the Travel Ban issued by the Trump Administration, which required additional steps to ensure continued processing of the visa application. Thankfully, in July 2017, the Department of State approved Jerry’s case and he entered the U.S. as a permanent resident. Mary and Jerry were extremely happy to be reunited.
SOCIAL SECURITY ASSISTANCE
Sally was recently diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer and required assistance with applying for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. Because of Sally’s diagnosis, she was eligible for Terminal Illness (TERI) expedited processing of her claim. After being referred by her provider, Sally’s case was accepted for full representation by the MLP. The MLP assisted Sally with electronically submitting her SSI application to the Social Security Administration (SSA), helped Sally collect medical records in support of her case, and accompanied her to the SSA office to submit evidence in support of her case and ensure her case received TERI expedited processing. Sally’s case was approved shortly after the in-person visit to the SSA office.